


know you better

by mysterytwin



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Bakery, Alternate Universe - Magic, Crushes, Fluff, Kagehina Big Bang 2020, M/M, Magic Realism, Mutual Pining, Slow Burn, Spell Shop AU, disclaimer: i do not know anything about baking, rated T for mild swearing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-20
Updated: 2021-01-03
Packaged: 2021-03-11 00:33:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 81,002
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28196235
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mysterytwin/pseuds/mysterytwin
Summary: In which Kageyama works at a bakery, Hinata works at the magic spell shop next door, and they both learn a little bit about knowing and being known.
Relationships: Hinata Shouyou/Kageyama Tobio
Comments: 40
Kudos: 123
Collections: Haikyuu Fics That Light my soul on Fire, Kagehina Big Bang 2020





	1. all i know is we said hello

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello!! this is my piece for the kagehina big bang 2020!! it’s been such a fun ride with my amazing partners park and connor!!! you can find [park’s art here](https://monstar-dreams.tumblr.com/post/638046293319680000/kghn-bb) and [connor’s art here](https://twitter.com/connorisseurr/status/1340719197907632128?s=20)!! they’re both so good, and i really wanna thank both of them so much for the work and effort, what they drew was exactly how i imagined it, it’s really wonderful!!!! this wouldn’t have happened without them!!
> 
> another big thank you to [oceanfire](https://archiveofourown.org/users/oceanfire/pseuds/oceanfire) because i probably would have given up on this fic a long time ago if not for her!!! <33
> 
> and as always a whole lot of love and appreciation for [chubsonthemoon](https://archiveofourown.org/users/chubsonthemoon/pseuds/chubsonthemoon) for just always being there to yell about kghn with me!!!! <33
> 
> a lot of this fic was inspired by everything has changed by taylor swift (fic title and chapter titles are from there!) and sugar you by oh honey!! the magic system is also a little based off of the owl house which i love a lot!!!
> 
> i hope you enjoy!! <3

If there is anything Kageyama Tobio knows for certain, it is magic.

He knows it better than he knows anything else. It’s as familiar as his own heartbeat, easy to pull and control until it’s right there at the tips of his fingers, well-practiced and inherent. There’s no question that he was born with it—he knows it like a fundamental truth that shaped his very bones and keeps him going. Magic is something that’s always been inside of him, growing and changing, leaking out of his skin like the one language he’s truly fluent in, nearly flawless. The lightning strikes on blue veins and the wild hurricane heart that beats inside him, the summer rain kept inside his very eyes. Thunder in his hands, a calamity with every step he takes forward, the sunburst within his chest when pride swallows him whole. If there’s anything Tobio knows for sure, inside out and upside down, it’s magic. _His_ magic—the one that he’s known his whole life, controlling it well enough that using it is like second nature, and focusing on it is like brandishing the perfect weapon. After all, how could he not know it, when it’s the one thing he’s ever truly cared about?

Tobio’s sure he knows magic. It’s in the world all around him, so lively and real that it almost feels palpable as it hangs in the air, filling up every nook and cranny that the city has to offer. It sings a song of heartbeats under millions of coats, thrumming under their feet with a restless energy. Nearly everyone’s got a sort of magic within them—some to wield, some to heal, some to protect. It’s hard to imagine a world without it, and Tobio thinks it would be very dull that way, without the thrill and adventure that only a good spell can give him. The electricity that spikes right through his veins with a simple summoning of the sky—there’s really nothing else like it, and it’s become so much of a part of him that he doesn’t really know what he’d do without it.

Magic is the one thing he doesn’t need to think twice about. It’s why he keeps it so close, wields it like an extension of himself. In a blurry world hinged on unpredictability and uncertainty, it’s the one clear line, keeping him grounded on fault lines and steady during aftershocks. It’s the one thing that he can control. He understands magic. He loves it. He _knows_ it.

Which is why it’s terribly _boring_ working at a bakery.

Don’t get him wrong—he’s immensely grateful that Daichi and Sugawara let him work here at all, especially after all that happened, but there’s also only so many times he can play with the sparks on his fingers, or levitate things around before putting them back. There isn’t much use for magic other than pouring things or heating up bread and pastries, and Tobio’s already enchanted the broom to do the cleaning for him once or twice. Even people watching can get a little repetitive after a while, and he’s never really been much for it anyway. He’d rather do other things— _exciting_ things, like conjuring up storms and collecting thunder clouds, playing with the sunbeams and making them dance, or making patterns out of raindrops. Hell, he’s even willing to create heat waves and practice making them stick, as simple as it is. As long as it’s anything a little more than ordinary—he’ll take it.

Tobio sighs, and rests his elbow on the counter, pressing his cheek against his palm. Right now he’s stuck on cashier duty, but it’s a slow day, and there haven’t been a lot of customers around. Tsukishima and Daichi are over at the back finishing up one of the delivery orders, but they’d established from the beginning that Tobio is quite hopeless at baking—something Tsukishima found terribly amusing, much to Tobio’s annoyance—so he’s not really allowed back there. He still _is_ , but it’s just probably for the best that he isn’t anywhere near the pastries while they’re being made. The last time he’d try to help out, the bread ended up charged with static, and Tobio still isn’t sure how that had happened in the first place.

So for now it’s just him out on the front, watching as the hands of the clock slowly tick their way through the day, hoping and watching for something better to do. Well, him and Peanut, who’s currently trying to drink water from her bottle, before padding around in her cage again, and playing with the little set-up she has going on in there. Tobio doesn’t really know how exciting life must be for a guinea pig, but he thinks she’s got a pretty good deal by being here, with customers coming and going to fawn over her, given all of her needs every single day. He’s also not sure why Suga had thought bringing a guinea pig to the bakery would be a good idea, but the minds of Seers have always worked in strange ways, and Tobio isn’t exactly in a position to question how the man runs the place. Maybe it’s a business thing?

Admittedly, Tobio’s never really been that good with animals—he likes them, but they just never seem to like _him_ —and Peanut is no exception. She starts whining and squealing every time he comes too close, even if he’s just _standing there,_ so he just does what he can to avoid her. When he’d brought this up to Suga, the older man had just smiled at him, one part apologetic and the other part amused, and said that she just needed time to get used to him. He was new, after all, and he hasn’t really done anything to try and win her favor.

But in truth, he doesn’t mind it that much. While he does think that it’s a little sad that his only company is a guinea pig that doesn’t even like him, Tobio knows he’s still lucky to be here. Something bitter crawls up his throat like the wrong kind of aftertaste at the thought of it—and it’s rough and mellow on his tongue, a lot like frustration and a bit like mourning. He’d been so close to getting what he wanted, to finally achieving the one thing that could make things right, or give him an actual _purpose_ —but of course he just had to ruin that too, didn’t he? There are storms that you never really do learn to love, and Tobio had been born with one right inside of him.

With another sigh, he holds up his other hand, creating small sparks in between his thumb and forefinger, the blue crackle soft and sharp, the subtle tingling sensation against his skin. He repeats the process over and over again, does it over and over until he doesn’t even need to think twice about it. It’s familiar, at least; he’s been doing this since he was a kid. At first it was just practice to get him better at controlling his magic, but it’s been a long time since then, and now he usually just does it out of habit. It keeps his hands moving, his magic thrumming inside of him even in the smallest way. Tobio likes it better that way. Idleness has never really suited him.

Fifteen minutes and twenty-three seconds later, Tobio looks up from watching the clock and turns to the sound of the backroom door opening, the smell of something sweet and warm filling up the store. Tsukishima walks out with a tray in his hands, his lips pressed together in a thin line, that same neutral expression on his face that’s always managed to tick Tobio off without even trying.

He sets the tray on the far left side of the counter, lined with freshly-baked chocolate chip cookies, and Tobio can’t help the way his stomach grumbles softly in his stomach. It’s almost as though he’s suddenly starving, his mouth beginning to water, and the cookies look so soft and smell really damn good, and they probably taste a little like heaven, and it wouldn’t hurt, would it, just to have a bit—

“Don’t you dare,” Tsukishima says, without looking up, as though he already knows what Tobio had been thinking. He levels Tobio with a stare like a warning. “They’re not finished yet, and I’m just leaving this here because we’re running out of space at the back with all the orders. If I come back and see a _single_ cookie is missing, I’m not going to hesitate to hex you.”

Tobio bristles. “I wasn’t going to,” he says, a little ruffled and scowling. He doesn’t enjoy the idea that Tsukishima can see right through him, or that Tsukishima _thinks_ he knows Tobio, that he’s got Tobio all figured out, just because of what a couple of news articles said about him. Turning away, he mutters under his breath, “I don’t think they’d be any good anyway.”

“What did you say?” Tsukishima says sharply, raising an eyebrow.

“Nothing,” Tobio answers back without missing a beat, shrugging his shoulders. “Whatever. I don’t care about your cookies.”

Tsukishima looks at him in scrutiny, his eyes narrowing. Tobio feels his skin itch in irritation—Tsukishima always finds a way to get under his nerves without fail. From the very first day that Tobio started working here, they’ve never really gotten along, and Tobio’s long since given up on the hope that they might ever will. They tolerate each other at best and infuriate each other at worst, and they’ll just have to live with it. Tobio will be damned before he loses this job because of some smug asshole.

“Good,” Tsukishima says finally after a moment, and he doesn’t spare Tobio another glance before returning to the backroom, shutting the door behind him. It clicks closed, echoing in the still silence, leaving Tobio alone again in the empty bakery.

Tobio sighs again, and looks around for something interesting to do. He traces the fallen shadows with his eyes, watching the way they spill through the doors and into the bakery from the outside afternoon light. They curve around the tiled floor and turn the walls into something more golden, a gentle and mellow warmth. Arching over the pastries lined up for display by the front, bouncing off on the glass and refracting into shards of multiple colors. Tobio tries making one himself, tracing a rainbow with his finger until he’s holding one right in the palm of his hand. It hovers above his hand by just a few inches, glowing softly with blurry in-betweens. He doesn’t get the colors quite right—some are too pale, and the others are too saturated—but it resembles a rainbow well enough. Folding up his hand, the rainbow dissolves back into the light, disappearing like it was never there in the first place.

Tobio leans against his hand, swinging his legs underneath the counter. There’s a stack of paper cups resting close to his elbow, but he’d already made kingdoms out of it earlier, making them rise and fall over and over again. He’d also practiced balancing the little stress ball that Daichi keeps in the drawer on his finger a couple of times, and he’s gotten pretty good at it. He can even get it to spin for fifteen seconds _without_ magic, thank you very much. Tobio’s actually pretty proud of himself for it, even if it’s just a small feat. He knows it’s a little dumb, but there really isn’t anything else better to do, and Tobio will take what he can get.

He hears Peanut let out another small squeal, and he turns his attention back to her. She’s munching on a carrot now, looking satisfied, and Tobio feels irrationally jealous about how easy things are for her. It’s stupid, he knows, to compare his life to a guinea pig, but at least she seems like she’s having fun. Tobio’s itching to get out of here, maybe to even head over to the park close to his apartment, practicing his hurricanes and creating mini-storms in the corner where it won’t hurt anyone. He just wants to feel the crackle of energy within him again, even just for a moment. After all that’s happened, Tobio just wants something to believe in.

It’s been months now since it all happened, but Tobio still isn’t close to letting go.

Tobio looks around again, eyes searching, and he spots the tray of fresh cookies Tsukishima had left behind, feeling his curiosity grow. He pushes himself off from where he’s leaning on the counter, craning his neck for a better view. Chocolate chip, cut into neat circles and placed in rows, still cooling with the sweet smell wafting in the air, delicious and tasty—but most importantly, completely unguarded.

He feels his stomach grumble again, and he licks his lips. Working in a bakery means he’s surrounded by pastries all the time, but he’s never actually allowed to _eat them_. The only exceptions are at the end of the day when there’s too many left-overs, and Suga hands Tobio the extra milk bread with a twinkle in his eye, telling him to take care. Daichi is generous too, of course, especially if he finds out that Tobio hasn’t eaten, or if he’s just in a good mood, but Tsukishima’s always been stingy with the food he bakes. And it’s not that he’s unwilling to share them—Tobio knows that isn’t true, because the wide-eyed boy with freckles from the shop next to theirs comes over frequently, and he _always_ leaves with something Tsukishima had meticulously prepared for him—it’s just that he doesn’t like giving them to Tobio because he’s an asshole.

Tobio’s stomach rumbles again, and he considers, pressing his lips into a tight line. It’s a known fact that Tsukishima always makes things in excess, and Tobio wants to see for himself if the blonde can even match up to all his smugness and arrogance about baking. He can’t be _that_ good. For all the snark that he gives Tobio about not being able to work an oven properly, the guy’s got to have _some_ flaws of his own, right?

Well, there’s only one way to find out.

Keeping an eye on the door, Tobio gets up, keeping his steps light as he inches closer to the tray. Tsukishima had placed it right on the edge of the counter, balanced evenly on the table. The smell grows stronger the nearer he gets, and Tobio makes sure that the door’s completely shut, the muffled sounds of his other coworkers behind it. Holding his breath, Tobio reaches out and quickly snatches one of them—one of the smaller cookies by the corner, adjusting the ones next to it so that it’s less obvious—and holds it up. It’s warm and crisp, the chocolate still melting on the surface. Tobio has to hand it to Tsukishima—it does smell really good. With a shrug, Tobio takes a bite, ready for what comes.

Damn, it’s _good._

It’s good and really gooey and soft, and Tobio finishes the rest of the cookie in one more go, trying to show some restraint by chewing it slowly to appreciate it a little more, but he’s failing quite terribly. He doesn’t know anything about baking, really, but Tobio swears that his skin is tingling like static within his veins, and it feels something close to _magic_. It feels like it’s growing all over his face, a thin thread curving over the bridge of his nose and his cheeks, and Tobio wonders what the hell kind of ingredient Tsukishima had used for it to taste like this. Honeysuckle? Moon sugar?

Peanut makes a sound, almost as though she’s judging him for his actions.

Tobio glares at her. “Oh, shut up. Like you’re any better. Don’t think I’ve forgotten the pumpkin incident.”

She takes a step back.

With a huff, Tobio finishes up the cookie, dusting the crumbs off of his fingers. He still wants more, though, the hunger only growing within his stomach. Tobio glances over at the door again—it wouldn’t hurt to take just one more, would it? No one will even notice, he tells himself, and Tobio takes another cookie, aiming for a slightly bigger one. This time he savors it a little more, thoroughly chewing before swallowing it down. God, this is unfair. So Tsukishima can bake really well—what about it? There are still tons of other things that Tobio’s better at, like decorating the cakes or wrapping up the orders into little gift boxes. Maybe even at _magic_ , though Tobio isn’t really sure what Tsukishima is capable of outside of work, but Tobio had been called one of the best of his generation for a reason. Even if his reputation isn’t what it used to be, he’s sure that it still holds true. Magic doesn’t leave you so easily, and Tobio’s never held onto anything tighter in his whole life.

Tobio finishes the cookie. He begins debating on whether he should steal another one—on one hand, they aren’t his and Tsukishima will be pissed when he finds out, but on the other, since when has Tobio ever cared about what Tsukishima thought?—and wonders who all these cookies are even for, or why they feel like they have a little magic in them. There’s probably still enough, and they can always come up with more with a couple of easy spells—they won’t be as good, of course, but there’s always that to fall back on. Okay, just one more. Just one, and then he’ll step back, and pretend it never happened. Nodding to himself, Tobio reaches out, his fingertips inches away from the cookie—

The door slams open, the bell tinkling with the movement. Tobio startles, jumping a good few feet into the air, instantly putting his hand down and wiping the crumbs off. His heart leaps to his throat and he swirls around to see who entered, ready to greet them and hope they didn’t just catch him in the act.

But it’s not just anyone, Tobio realizes, when his eyes meet those of Sugawara Koushi, whose eyes immediately widen at the sight of him. Tobio feels his heart thunder in his chest. If he gets caught, Tsukishima will never let him live it down, and even worse, what if Daichi and Suga never trust him again? What if they _fire_ him? Tobio can’t have that.

He expects Suga to tell him off, or raise an eyebrow, maybe even reprimand Tobio about how he definitely shouldn’t be eating their products if they’re specifically made for an order. Tobio waits for it to come, the teasing or the warning, biting the inside of his cheek. He’ll take anything as long as it means he doesn’t get fired.

But to his immense surprise, Suga doesn’t do any of that. Instead, he bursts out _laughing_. His eyes squeeze shut as the laughter bubbles out of him in loud breaths, clutching his stomach for dear life. This goes on for a couple more moments, with Suga doubled over and Tobio standing awkwardly by the cashier, growing increasingly embarrassed with every second that passes. Finally, after a minute or so, Suga places a hand on one of the chairs to steady himself, his cheeks flushed pink as he wipes a tear away, his grin still wide.

Tobio blinks. “Uh.”

Suga laughs again, but this time it’s a lot shorter, walking up to the counter with an amused smile on his lips. “Oh, Kageyama, what have you gotten yourself into this time?”

Tobio raises an eyebrow in confusion. “What do you mean?”

Suga’s eyes widen a fraction as though he’s just realized something, and the amusement on his face only grows, mirth dancing in his eyes like a flicker of a flame. “Oh my god, you don’t know. Of course not, because you can’t _see_ it,” he says, a little bewildered as he begins to chuckle. “This is hilarious. I can’t believe it. Daichi’s gonna _love_ this, I gotta tell him—”

“Tell me what?” The sound of the door clicks open and Daichi’s voice cuts through, the echo to two pairs of footsteps following behind it. Tobio stills. He already doesn’t know what the hell Suga’s going on about, and if he has to deal with the cookies too at the same time, he’s not sure if he can handle it. “Koushi, we could hear you laughing all the way from the back, what are you—”

Tobio turns to look at them then, and Daichi falters, pushing mid-sentence as his eyes widen in bewilderment. His lips twitch something close to a smile, almost as though as he can’t keep himself from laughing either, but unlike Suga, he manages to keep it in control, pressing his lips together in a thin line.

Tsukishima, on the other hand, is a completely different story. A smirk rises to his lips and he snickers, looking so smug that it makes Tobio’s skin itch in irritation. He kind of wants to punch that smile right off Tsukishima’s lips. What is he missing? Is there something on his face? Why do they keep _looking at him—_

“You ate the cookies,” Tsukishima says, sounding so sure that Tobio freezes in place. His pulse skyrockets. “You ate them, even after I explicitly told you not to.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Tobio mutters, willing the flush on his cheeks back down before they give him away. He’s pretty sure it’s a losing battle, but Tobio’s never been a quitter despite it.

Tsukishima only snorts. “You might want to look at yourself in the mirror, _King_.”

Tobio bristles. “Don’t call me that.” He scowls. “What’s wrong with how I look?”

“Um,” Suga says, his voice gentle. He looks like he’s trying not to smile, the echoes of laughter still marked all over his pink cheeks. “Kageyama, your face, it’s, uh, how do I say this, it’s—”

“Blue,” Daichi finishes for him, straight to the point. He looks confused more than anything else, which Tobio understands immensely. “Your face is blue.”

Tobio blinks again. “What?” he asks, bringing up a hand to touch his cheek. It doesn’t feel any different, and if what they’re saying is true, he doesn’t even know how that could’ve happened. He hasn’t been exposed to any stray magic—he’s been here _all day_. “What are you talking about?”

“Here,” Daichi says, and he ruffles through the drawers to bring out a small mirror, holding it out for Tobio to take.

Tobio looks at his reflection through the glass. It’s just like what Daichi said: his face is blue all the way to the tips of his ears and down half of his neck, deep blue like the sea. Almost like paint, except it doesn’t feel like it’s there, and Tobio starts to panic. He doesn’t know why this could’ve happened, or _how_ , and if this is permanent, he needs to find a spell to fix it right away—

Tsukishima laughs, sharp-edged and smug. Tobio glares at him, narrowing his eyes. It isn’t a humorous sound, but a knowing one—and Tobio remembers what Tsukishima had said earlier. The realization comes to him just as Tsukishima smirks, understanding that Tobio figured it out.

“The cookies,” Tobio says through gritted teeth. “You hexed the cookies.”

Tsukishima hums. “Exactly,” he says, and Tobio takes a step forward, a threat ready to spill out of his lips. The blonde holds his hands up in defense. “Calm down, I didn’t do it because of you. The cookies are for a kid’s birthday party, and the instructions ordered that they turn into the favorite color of whoever eats them. I _told_ you that they weren’t done. The magic must’ve still been settling in when you ate them—which I repeat, I told you _not_ to do. Serves you right then.”

Tobio clenches his fists. “You piece of—”

“Kageyama,” Daichi says sternly, and Tobio has no choice but to back down, the rest of his words dying on his tongue. The older man looks exasperated, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Tsukishima’s right. If he told you that you couldn’t eat them, then you shouldn’t have.”

Tobio flushes, and he feels guilt settle inside of him, thick and heavy. He wants to spit it out. He keeps his mouth closed. He thinks he hears Peanut make a disapproving sound, and he kind of wishes he could curl up in a hole and never come out.

“If you’re really hungry, then you can just tell us, alright? There’s always some spare stuff lying around,” Daichi says, and his tone is reassuring and kind. It makes Tobio feel even more guilty. “And we do also need those cookies to be complete, you know.”

Tobio nods stiffly. He averts his gaze.

“And Tsukishima,” Daichi says, turning to the blonde. “You probably should’ve told him. Not everyone can resist your cookies, you know. What would’ve happened if it was Yamaguchi who ate them, huh?”

A light blush spreads on Tsukishima’s face. “I still would’ve laughed at him.”

Daichi just shakes his head. “That’s not the point, but you get it, don’t you?”

“Yes.”

“Good.” Daichi gestures over to the tray. “Now go bring those to the back so we can start packaging them.”

Tsukishima nods, sending one last smug look over at Tobio before leaving, taking the offending cookies with him.

Tobio presses a finger to his cheek again, and when he looks over at the mirror, he finds that his skin is still sky blue, and it’s such a strange sight. He’s never had to imagine himself like this before, and he didn’t ever think he’d actually have to see it.

“Um,” Tobio says, uncertain. He points to his face. “What am I supposed to do about this?”

Suga hums in thought, before he snaps his fingers, a line of a grin unfolding on his face. “Luckily for you,” he says, patting Tobio’s shoulder reassuringly. “There’s a spell shop right next door. They probably have exactly what you need. Maybe a restoration potion or something. The spell Tsukishima used couldn’t have been that strong since they’re just cookies, so they should be able to help you with that.”

Daichi nods in agreement. “You can go over there for a bit, and get what you need. Suga can manage the cashier while you’re gone.”

“Are you sure?” Tobio asks, a little unsure. “I—I’m sorry about all of this, I know I shouldn’t have, but—” he pauses, the words not coming out as right as he’d like them to. “I can just go later once my shift is over, it’s no problem.”

Suga waves him off. “Don’t worry about it,” he says with a smile. “Give me a turn for a little, would you? I don’t mind. Seems like a pretty slow day anyway, right?”

Tobio’s inclined to agree. But despite Suga’s reassurance, Tobio still feels a little uncomfortable. He already owes both of them so much; he doesn’t want to inconvenience them any further than he already has—and if that means enduring people giving him weird looks because of his blue face, then Tobio’s willing to go through it.

But before he can argue, he feels Suga plant both hands on his shoulders, and begins to push him out towards the direction of the door. Tobio tries to resist, but Suga’s much stronger, and he’s standing before the entrance before he even knows it.

“Go on, get going!” Suga exclaims, and Tobio hears Daichi chuckle lightly from the side. Suga places his hands on his hips, a funny look in his eyes, almost mischievous even. Tobio doesn’t trust it one bit, but it doesn’t seem he has any other choice. His boss can be really stubborn when he wants to be. “Who knows,” he says, and there’s a glint in his eye, more than just a flare off of the sun. “Maybe you’ll even find something interesting!”

“Interesting?”

“Yup,” Suga says, and he pushes the door open. “That’s what you’re looking for, isn’t it? Something interesting?”

Tobio’s just about to ask how Suga knows that exactly, but then he remembers that he’s a Seer, and that’s a kind of magic he will never be able to understand. He’d tried to before, just to see if he could, but there are just unreachable unknowns, and it’s better to let it lie than to poke and prod around something you shouldn’t mess around with. Maybe that’s why Suga always looks like he knows things Tobio doesn’t.

“I’ll be back soon,” Tobio says in lieu of a goodbye and Suga nods fervently, forcing Tobio out the door with one last push. He smiles widely before closing the door, the glass coming in between to separate them before he heads back into the store.

That leaves Tobio out on the sidewalk, hit with the summer heat hanging heavy and hot in the air. Maybe that’s why no one’s going outside today—if he squints, he can make out a heat wave shimmering at the end of the street, and Tobio thinks that if he were any closer, he could probably will it to disappear. Maybe even summon a little cloud for himself, just for a little shade.

Taking just a couple of steps, Tobio makes his way to the other side. It’s impossible for him not to be familiar with the spell shop’s existence, since it’s right next to the bakery, and he’s passed by it for the last two weeks now to get to work. From the outside, the shop seems a little smaller than the bakery, different kinds of colorful posters stuck to the glass wall, advertisements and signs. Vines sprout from the cobblestones to curl around the exterior walls, weaving blue and yellow flowers in full bloom. Tobio looks up to read the neon sign hanging over head, bearing the name of the store and a tagline:

**_Strange & Unusual_ **

_Gwah! Bam! Whoosh!_

It’s kind of a funny name, and Tobio resists the urge to roll his eyes at it. In truth, he doesn’t really know what to expect—while he is familiar with the business, he’s never even seen the owner around. He’d heard that Tsukishima’s friend works here too, and sometimes there’s a small girl who’ll come by for a coffee break, but that’s just about it. He doesn’t really know much about the other stores on the street, either, though he probably should, if he’s going to be here for longer. Well, there’s a first time for everything, he supposed. Might as well start here.

Letting out a deep breath, Tobio pushes the door open as the wind chime hums a soft and familiar melody. Here goes nothing, he thinks to himself, bracing himself for what’s to come. And right from the moment he enters, there’s one thing that he learns quickly:

It’s _chaos_.

Almost instantly, an object comes flying towards him, and he’s barely got enough time to duck before it hits the wall next to him, falling to the ground. It’s a book, he realizes, squinting at it from where its pages flip from cover to cover unprompted, a faint trace of orange glow surrounding it. Tobio looks around the shop, finding all different kinds of things just floating in the air, moving around seemingly without any rhyme or reason, the same pale auburn-gold aura surrounding them—scrolls, books, jars, and even a broom. He hadn’t been able to see the inside that clearly earlier, but there are several potted plants line the window sills and shelves, some on the counter and others hanging low from the ceiling. To the side, there are racks of glass bottles, each filled with strange-looking substances: kaleidoscope colors, silver smoke, thin wooden sticks, blue holed leaves, cobwebs. Books stack every available space, papers stuffed into them haphazardly, balancing on top of one another. It’s like the whole shop is filled to the brim, almost ready to burst with so much happening at once. A wild sort of charm, maybe, but Tobio doesn’t understand how anyone could find anything like this.

“Hello?” Tobio calls out, walking a little more inside. He has to duck under some more items to avoid bumping into them, passing by a perfectly-shaped seashell and a jar filled with a golden inscription he can’t make out. Stepping around shelves and plants, he’s careful not to touch anything suspicious-looking. It’s a little difficult, since everything is everywhere, but he does what he can. There’s probably a system of organization to all of this, Tobio thinks, but he doesn’t think he could ever figure it out for the life of him.

When he makes it to the counter, there’s no one there. Instead, what greets him is a window to the side that streams warm light on top of the wooden table, turning the nearby leaves white-gold and glittery, and illuminating the messy scrawl of handwriting on the several papers strewn over the counter. Curiously, there’s also a little ball of light inside a jar, hovering in the little space, not once flickering. Tobio watches it for a moment, and he imagines what would happen if he were to touch it. He wonders how long it’s stayed like that, a simple light spell captured for longer than just a childhood.

Tobio tears his attention away from the jar when he hears a little rustling sound, only to learn that it’s coming from a small potted plant to his left. It’s long and curves strangely, blooming pink at the end where it’s a little bigger, the petals open towards him. Tobio doesn’t really know much about plants, but he’s never seen this one before. He doesn’t think he could give it a name even if he tried.

Slowly, Tobio reaches out a finger to touch it. Just as he’s getting close, he hears the sound of footsteps, and it startles him so badly that he accidentally rushes forward too fast.

“Oh, careful—”

All of the sudden, the small plant grows teeth and chomps down on Tobio’s finger hard, and he hisses out a curse, pulling his hand back almost immediately. There’s a little blood on his finger now, red marks from where the plant had bit him. Tobio glances back at the plant, but it seems to be playing innocent—the teeth have retracted, and it remains unmoving, as though it had never tried anything at all.

“—it bites,” the voice says, completely unapologetic and even sounding a little amused.

“Yeah, no shit, it bites, why—” Tobio starts to say, annoyed, but the words die on his tongue the moment he looks up, and meets the grinning face of the shopkeep.

He’s the most beautiful boy Tobio’s ever seen.

Tobio stares. His mouth suddenly feels very, very dry.

The shopkeep looks at him, the ends of his lips curving upwards, the freckles on his cheeks shifting around on his cheeks as he moves. He takes a step closer to stand behind the counter, placing his palms flat against the desk, and oh, there are freckles all over his arms too, isn’t that nice? The light from the window catches his hair and turns it into a campfire, fiery and blazing, and his eyes gleam like mellow comets. This boy is made of magic, Tobio can tell. Even just looking at him, Tobio can tell that he isn’t ordinary. No, his bones are built on peculiarity and his smile marks around something unknown, and it thrills Tobio to think that he could be just like him, cut from the same cloth, rebuilt by the same magic that keeps themselves fiery. After all, Tobio knows magic, and he sees it in the summer eyes looking right back at him.

Tobio thinks he looks a little like the sun.

“Holy shit,” he breathes.

The shopkeep grins. “Right? It’s cool, isn’t it?”

Tobio doesn’t tell him that he hadn’t been referring to the plant at all.

“Oh, you’re bleeding,” the shopkeep says suddenly, and Tobio blinks. He follows the other man’s gaze to his finger, where the slightest trace of blood trails along the back of his hand. “Here, I’ll help you,” he tells Tobio, taking a step forward. Before Tobio can even open his mouth to object and insist that he’s fine, the shopkeep waves his hand and summons a small band-aid, light blue and decorated with tiny yellow suns. He peels off the edges and takes Tobio’s hand, his touch light and gentle and so _warm,_ wrapping the bandage around Tobio’s finger with his tongue peeking out, as though the action requires all of his attention and utmost focus. It’s _adorable._

Tobio nearly stops breathing.

“There you go,” he says, tapping Tobio’s finger twice before stepping back, satisfied. He grins, and Tobio swears that the world starts revolving around him instead.

“Thanks,” Tobio manages to say, praying that his voice doesn’t crack, his pulse racing widely in his chest as his hand tingles with the memory of the feather-light touches.

“It’s kind of my fault anyway,” the shopkeep says, waving a hand dismissively, blissfully ignorant of the predicament he’s just put Tobio in. He smiles again, sharper this time. “Hey, you wanna see something cool?”

Tobio’s a little hesitant and wary, but his curiosity overrides rationality, and he says, “Sure.”

“Okay, watch this,” the shopkeep says, looking excited and extremely pleased with himself. He snaps his fingers, and the plant bares its teeth once more, but this time on command. “It’s a literal _snapdragon_!”

“Why the hell,” Tobio says, the thoughts of the band-aid disappearing as he remembers the way the plant had attacked him, “does your plant have _teeth?”_

The shopkeep only grins wickedly, as though it’s the question he’s been waiting for his whole life. “It’s how it eats and defends itself!” he exclaims. “It took me _ages_ to find it, you know? They’re so rare that most people don’t even know they exist! The whole biting thing puts people off from keeping them, especially since they can grow really big, but it’s nothing I can’t handle! Yachi doesn’t really think so, but she always worries anyway.”

“Huh,” Tobio says, a little uncertain. He doesn’t really know what to say, or who Yachi is. He thinks the name’s familiar, but he’s too busy trying to count the shopkeep’s freckles to try and figure it out. From what he can see so far, there’re around twelve sun-kissed spots, pinpricks on tanned skin. “How big does it usually get?”

The shopkeep gestures widely, holding out both arms to his sides and stretching them as far as they can go. “This much,” he tells Tobio. “Or maybe even more! I guess that’s where the _dragon_ part comes in, aside from the color. ‘Cause it kinda looks like one, doesn’t it?”

Tobio shrugs. “I guess.”

“Yeah, well, that’s why I think it’s super cool! They’re really good at sensing magic too, and they can tell when the weather’s changing. No one’s really figured out how they know exactly, but that makes it even more fun, right? It’s like—you can never really _know_ magic. It’s always changing.”

Tobio frowns. “I know magic.”

The shopkeep raises an eyebrow, the tone in his voice poised like a challenge. “You do?” he says. “Then what is it?”

Tobio blinks, a little taken aback. He wonders if this boy knows who he is, if he’s traced the news reports and tabloids back to Tobio, connecting the dots and putting two and two together. But if he has, he doesn’t show it, not once dropping the glint in his eyes, sharp-edged and ready. Maybe he doesn’t know, Tobio thinks. It’s possible he looks different with the blue on his face, or maybe the shopkeep just doesn’t keep up with the news—but it’s intriguing, at least, to be unknown. A clean slate.

“It’s you,” Tobio answers without thinking. Once he realizes what he said, he flushes, feeling his cheeks warm. The shopkeep’s grin widens. “I mean—it’s _in_ you. Like how it’s in me. It’s everywhere. It’s the one thing you can learn to control in this world.”

He tilts his head, looking at Tobio curiously. “But why would you ever want to control it?”

Tobio isn’t sure what he means. Of course he’d want to control it. Why wouldn’t he? How else would he wield it, or feel it around him? “Because,” he says, pausing for a moment. _Because it’s all I’ve ever known._ “Because then you’d be able to use it the way you want to. You could understand it.”

The shopkeep hums thoughtfully, but he doesn’t look all that convinced. Tobio’s encountered people with different opinions on magic before, and it’s never really bothered him —except now he feels the need to impress. But why would he, when he doesn’t even know who this man is? Odd, isn’t it, how Tobio sort of feels like he knows him from somewhere else. Maybe even in a dream, or some other escaped time. The way he looks at Tobio feels familiar on his skin, the sound of his voice an echo from a memory he doesn’t own.

Tobio’s probably just overreacting.

“So anyway, like I was saying,” the shopkeep says, resting his elbows on the counter, his cheeks pressing against the palm of his hands, squishing them upwards. The freckles dance like clusters of a galaxy. “Yachi’s all worried for when it grows too big, ‘cause she thinks that it’ll be harder to control. I mean, I _guess_ she’s right, but then again, it’s not like I haven’t encountered even more dangerous plants before. Like the fireflower! That thing burst into flames almost every other second, but I managed it well enough, didn’t I? Okay, maybe, I did get a bit of my hair burned off, but it was only a little! And I was due for a haircut anyway.” He runs a hand through his hair, and Tobio watches the movement, the sunbeams dancing on the strands to turn it into something phenomenal. Tobio wonders if it’s as soft as it looks.

The shopkeep laughs softly, a little sheepish. “Natsu thinks it’s funny, at least. The first time I showed her I was being careless and almost got my whole finger bitten off, but it was totally fine! And Yamaguchi believes in me! And from what I’ve read, it’ll take years before it even grows _that_ big, you know? So I’ve got time.” He grins. “Interesting, isn’t it?”

Tobio blinks. There’s a lot to unpack there in all that he’s said, and Tobio has no idea if he’s supposed to know who those people are, or if he’s supposed to agree. All the words are still processing in his head from where they’d shot quick and fast from the shopkeep’s mouth, off on a ramble, and Tobio’s still feeling a little dizzy.

Which is probably why the next thing out of his mouth is, “Are you always this talkative?”

The shopkeep doesn’t miss a beat. “Are you always so blue?”

Tobio flushes, and the shopkeep smirks. He’d almost forgotten about that, to be honest, even though it’s the whole reason he’s here in the first place. But can you really blame him? There’s only so much he can focus on at the moment, and the summer eyes staring right back at him are taking up most of his attention.

“It’s why I’m here,” Tobio answers, willing his cheeks to cool off. “I, uh. I need something to remove it.”

The shopkeep hums, looking back at Tobio curiously. “How’d you get it?”

Tobio winces slightly, the embarrassment flooding into him in waves. “Um—cookies,” he mumbles, averting his eyes. Saying it out loud is a lot more mortifying than he thought it would be, and in front of this person, no less.

His lips twitch into a smile, the mirth clear in his bright eyes. “Cookies?” he asks, propping himself back up to cross his arms.

Tobio nods. “They were—they were charmed to change color, but I may have— _accidentally_ —eaten them? Then my face turned all blue,” he explains quickly, hating each word that comes out of his mouth. He remembers the smug expression on Tsukishima’s face, and feels a slight irritation in his stomach. “I swear it wasn’t my fault.”

The shopkeep breathes out a light laugh, clearly amused with Tobio’s whole predicament. Tobio tries not to roll his eyes. “Oh, well, that’s good then.”

Tobio raises an eyebrow, a little offended. “Good?”

“Yeah, good!” the shopkeep says, not even sparing Tobio a glance as he begins to rummage through the drawers, papers flying in and out as he searches for something. The jars on the table rattle with the force of his movements, and Tobio eyes the little orb of light, swaying slightly. “Aha!”

Tobio watches as the shopkeep reaches into the drawer to pull out an old paintbrush, still crusted with the remnants of old dried paint, an unhealthy mix of indistinguishable colors. There are splatters over the dark wood, the bristles stuck stiffly together.

The shopkeep places it on the counter, and turns around to direct his attention to the shelves behind him, several bottles of different shapes and sizes stacked onto them. He side-steps as his eyes read over the labels, tapping a finger against his lips. He lets out a little hum when he finds what he’s looking for, standing up on his toes to reach for it. For a second, Tobio’s worried that the whole thing will topple over, but then his hand wraps around the flask, and he drops back down the balls of his feet. However, he isn’t done—he swipes two more bottles to his left, juggling them in his arms before settling them down on the desk quite unceremoniously.

“What are you…?” Tobio says, uncertain. He’s never really been good at potions or anything of the sort—complicated ingredients confuse him, and he has trouble remembering what each of them is for—so he can only watch in slight wonder, standing a little awkwardly.

“What else, what else, what was it again?” the orange-haired man mutters to himself, looking around him. His eyes squint, eyebrows knitting together as he thinks to himself. His lips curl into a smile when he seems to find it, and with a simple flick of his hand, he summons a small bowl to float towards him from the other side of the store, picking out pieces of what was inside. They look a little like marbles, Tobio finds when he looks closer, blue and shiny with a single yellow stripe in between. Sort of like the ones the kids at school used to play with back then, he remembers.

Tongue sticking out as he works, Tobio watches as the shopkeep pours the flask of bright green liquid into an empty jar, following it with a patch of hazy golden smoke that used to fill the second bottle, then a thick, rose-colored substance that drips out slowly. Lastly, he drops three marbles into it. Tobio waits for the soft clinks to tell him that they’ve made contact with the glass, but nothing ever comes, like they completely dissolved.

The shopkeep waves both of his hands in the air, twisting them around the jar. With a swirl, the liquid in the jar turns into something less dense, mixing until it becomes pale blue like a watercolor sky. Snapping his fingers, he sends a tiny little spark into the potion, and it drops into the liquid and fizzes for a couple of seconds, bubbling on the surface. Then with a deep breath, the shopkeep grins, satisfied. He looks up at Tobio.

“I said it was good,” he explains, picking up the paintbrush to offer it over to Tobio. “Because then it wasn’t so hard to make, see? A simple reverse spell!”

Tobio doesn’t point out that he doesn’t think any part of what he just did was particularly _simple,_ but that’s also just probably because he doesn’t understand any of it. And this guy _must_ be trustworthy if he’s running a whole shop dedicated to spells, right?

“You just gotta apply this on your face every other hour for the rest of the day. I don’t know how strong the charm was, but it should be gone by tomorrow,” he tells Tobio easily, placing his hands on his hips.

“Using…the paintbrush?” Tobio asks, eyeing the object in his hands warily.

“Yup!” the shopkeep says. “Just make sure you spread it all over where the blue is or it won’t work.”

“I, uh—okay?” Tobio says back. He feels unsure about this whole thing, really. Granted he doesn’t know a lot about potions, but the method had seemed so wild and messy that Tobio isn’t all that sure if he can put his faith into it. But it’s also the only thing he has, and he'd rather not spend the rest of his life with a blue face. And Suga _had_ recommended going here, so it should work, right? A little awkwardly, Tobio reaches out into his pocket to fish out his wallet. “So how much do I give you?”

The shopkeep pauses for a moment, as though he’s considering it. Then after a moment, his lips spread into a wide smile, toothy and genuine. Quite pathetically, it steals Tobio’s breath away, and he feels the air get knocked out of his lungs. He thinks that maybe this is what it means to truly stand under the sun.

“I’ll give you a discount,” the shopkeep says, and Tobio feels the relief from being able to save a couple more Mora. “For listening to me about the snapdragon,” he says, his smile genuine and sincere, and it makes Tobio’s chest ache a little.

“Thanks,” Tobio says, his cheeks blooming. He wonders if it would be appropriate to tell the shopkeep that he could probably listen to him go on about stupid plants for the rest of his life.

Probably not. They’ve only just met, after all, and Tobio can never really be sure of what comes next.

“It’ll be twenty Mora,” the shopkeep tells him, nudging the jar and paintbrush a little closer. “Since it’s a pretty simple spell, and I already had everything I needed right here. Funny, too.”

Tobio rolls his eyes again but nods, and slips out the coins from his wallet to hand it over to the shopkeep. Their hands brush for just the briefest of seconds, but Tobio feels his heart still in those milliseconds, freezing in place and shutting down his whole body. He tries to get his pulse to steady itself, but it’s always been a little careless and clumsy, and oh, this is a mess. Tobio swallows thickly. This is already beginning to shape like a disaster, and Tobio doesn’t even know his _name_.

“I’m Hinata, by the way,” the shopkeep tells Tobio with a sunny smile.

Well, he does now.

“Hinata Shouyou,” he clarifies, and Tobio thinks that the name fits really well for someone like him. For someone built of magic and firelight, and who looks like he’s been cut from the same summer sky that the golden clouds are. A sunspot amidst a hurricane. “Owner of this fine establishment and a wonderful little snapdragon.”

Tobio nods, and his mouth feels dry again. He knows that names can be a special thing, especially among the elder creatures, hidden and kept secure, but it’s been years since those kinds of rules had been established. They’re more loose now, gentler without the heavy gravity, without too-high stakes. But names are still names, and within them they still hold a special kind of magic—the kind that only comes with the idea of being known—and it’s impossible to replicate. They’re their own kind of peculiarity.

“Kageyama Tobio,” he introduces himself, ducking his head a little to hide under his fringe. He can see Hinata’s smile widening by just a fraction, and he feels his cheeks warm, already embarrassed by the simple notion of telling a beautiful boy who he is.

“It’s nice to meet you, Yamayama-kun,” Hinata says cheekily, and he hands Tobio a paper bag with the jar and the paintbrush inside. Tobio rolls his eyes as he takes it from him, huffing out a breath. “I hope your face stops being blue.”

“And I hope your plant doesn’t bite your hand off,” Tobio says back, and Hinata barks out a laugh. The sound makes Tobio’s heart do star jumps, skipping a beat as it attempts to reach out for Hinata. Shifting his weight to his other foot, Tobio brings up a hand to wave awkwardly, and says, “I, um, I gotta—I gotta go now, so uh. Bye.”

“Bye!” Hinata says cheerily, waving back enthusiastically, and he’s so _cute_ that Tobio has to bite the inside of his cheek to keep himself from smiling. He nods one more time before turning around, ducking under the floating items and exiting the store, the paper bag held tightly in his hand.

When he steps back out into the summer heat, all Tobio can think about is the boy he’d just left behind, with the magic plants and the kind smile and the weird potions. He doesn’t even pay attention to the weird stares he’s getting—he just feels all fuzzy inside, his steps light and blurry, like his heart hasn’t learned to quit just yet, stuck in a frenzy it doesn’t know how to undo. His mind is replaying everything from fifteen minutes earlier like a film reel, with Hinata’s laugh taking center stage. Tobio doesn’t know what he’s going to do now, or if he should even be thinking about doing anything at all, but there’s something new growing inside his chest, something messy and lovely and dangerous all at once. Something impossible to name right now, but real enough to be felt. And Tobio might not understand it, but he does know one thing for sure, and it’s that he’d like to see Hinata again sometime.

He’s not sure how that would even happen, and he’ll probably have to come up with some excuse to get there, but he remembers what Suga had told him, and something definite settles inside of him. Maybe even a little excited, shooting through him like the crackle of lightning thrumming under his skin. The thrill of something long gone set back into motion. Maybe it isn’t exactly the answer to what he’s looking for, but Tobio isn’t going to be picky. He’ll take what he can get, and if it just so happens that he learns to memorize a certain set of summer eyes along the way, then so be it.

He’s finally found something interesting.

* * *

There’s a storm coming, but it isn’t one of Tobio’s.

When he blinks his eyes open in the morning, he’s greeted with the muted dark blue of the daylight, filtering inside his room and hiding in the crevices. Through the windows, he finds that the sky’s taken on a gamble with the weather, losing as the shadows take their winnings and begin to dance. The clouds hang low and heavy, ready to burst at the seams, holding onto the silence for just a moment more. It won’t be long now before the rain comes pouring down, and the rest of the city will have to be ready for it.

Tobio edges closer to the window, squinting up at the sky to inspect it. There doesn’t seem to be anything odd about it—aside from how big it’s going to be, there’s nothing strange that seems to be going on. A natural storm, then, he concludes, still watching for any telltale signs of magic. Maybe a bit of sparking, or a fabricated cloud with loose edges would give him an idea otherwise, but there doesn’t seem to be any of it. There’s not a single hint of color either—just the same grayscale that comes with gloomy weather—so Tobio figures that it’s not anyone’s doing. And since he just woke up, it’s definitely not his.

Tobio smiles a little to himself. He’s always liked the rain, after all. When he was a little kid, he loved standing out in the rain and letting it wash over him, jumping around on puddles with a bright yellow raincoat too big on his shoulders, chasing after frogs. In truth, his fondness for it had led him to where he is now, with the buzz of it right on the tips of his fingers. He thinks it’s pretty bold for the sky to start off the day with a heavy rain under its belt, and even a little odd that it’s happening now, in the middle of summer. But he won’t be one to oppose it—and even if he wanted to stop it, there’s no spell that’s able to counter what’s natural. Even magic has to make its exceptions sometimes, and nature has always been the first on the list. It’s the only thing that can defy it. Everything else just has to follow.

Dragging his feet, Tobio lets out a loud yawn as he slowly goes through the motions, his mind still half-asleep and stuck in an old and familiar dream about brighter skies and lazy afternoons. He can’t remember much about it, really, except that it leaves something warm and fuzzy inside of his stomach, a summer sweetness on his tongue. But with them also comes the vague sensation that he’s missing something, just barely out of reach, making him wake up the moment he gets too close. It doesn’t look like any of his memories though, so he’s not too sure if it has any meaning at all to begin with. He’s never been that great with dream magic to figure it out, and it’s not like he dreams too often anyway.

He brings up a hand to wave it dismissively through the air, and the bathroom door creaks open on metal hinges. With another yawn escaping his lips, he pushes the shower curtain aside and lets the water wash over his head, a slow start before it all comes rushing down. When he closes his eyes, he can almost imagine that he’s a kid again, forgetting his umbrella and running all the way home under thunder clouds, the echoes of a childhood dripping on his shoulders. It reminds him of a simpler time, when the world was one block wide, all the way to the park down the street, and he didn’t need to worry all that much. All he had known back then was the rain, and the magic that eventually followed from it.

Tobio looks at his reflection in the mirror. He remembers what had happened, and how it had been just like Hinata had said. His skin is back to normal now, as pale as it’s always been. The only thing that remains blue are his eyes, striking and sharp, a cut of the sky itself.

Admittedly, Tobio can’t help but wonder what Hinata had thought of him—the tall, awkward boy with a blue face who’d walked into his shop and insulted his plant. Hinata seemed to like him a bit—and Tobio had liked him _very much_ —but Tobio’s also learned people don’t really stick around too long once they’ve learned bits and pieces about him. Still—he does think it would be nice to see Hinata again. Somehow. Just once more, to try and figure him out. See what else he can do with magic, and if it’s the same thing that Tobio sees in himself.

Slipping out of the bathroom and throwing on some decent clothes, Tobio snaps his fingers once to get the coffee machine up and running, and twice to heat up the left-overs from last night, warming up slowly on its own, like a heat wave over the rice. He eats quickly, keeping an eye on the clock as the minutes trickle by, counting down how much time he has left. Outside the window, the skies are growing darker, and in between two buildings in the distance, he spots a flash of lightning, the faintest trace of light, too far away to mark it down. He wonders how long this one will last.

Just as he’s getting ready to leave, slipping on a jacket around his shoulder, he hears the rain begin its drumbeat rhythm, falling from the sky in a matter of seconds. The sound of it fills his quiet apartment until he can’t hear anything else, like a melody shaping itself to fit inside every corner of his home. He watches through the window, the slow mist that rises and curls around the buildings, the blurry outlines of trees as the raindrops take up all the space beyond his vision. Admittedly, the rain’s not as hard as he expected it to be, but that’s also always been one of his favorite things about it too: the unpredictability it presents him with. The rain could leave within the next few minutes as though it was never there to begin with, but it could also stay a little longer, growing attached to the pavement and the ground it kisses. It could learn to grow stronger, or it could disappear without looking back. Bring with it a softness he cannot touch, or allow lightning to linger longer than it’s supposed to, shake the ground with the call of thunder.

For a moment, he almost wishes he could feel it again—just one more time, to feel the sky underneath his fingertips, to stand at the eye of the hurricane, and to know that within an instant it could all cease if he asked it to.

 _Almost._ Unrestrained magic like that, the fickle sway of uncertainty, losing control—it’s what got him here in the first place. He can’t risk it, not now that he’s been given something kind, even when he doesn’t really deserve it.

Tobio sighs, shaking his head. He has ten minutes to make it to the Gates, and he doesn’t want to be late for work. That would probably make him feel even worse, and he doesn’t want to disappoint. With one last look at the window, the falling rain steady like his heartbeat, Tobio swallows down the inevitable longing in his chest, and forces himself past the bitter aftertaste. There’s no point in dwelling on it now, when he knows he’ll just get frustrated, and nothing good will come out of it. It’s no one else’s fault but his that he’s stuck like this, and he’s just going to have to live with it. Maybe one day he’ll find something better.

Checking to make sure that his belongings are with him, Tobio grabs the keys on the counter and slips it into his pocket, locking the door softly behind him. His apartment’s only on the third floor, and the elevator never seems to be working, so he rounds the staircase. The windows are all open, and the wind sends a couple of raindrops on a breeze to his skin, but it’s not anything he has to worry about. He keeps the sound of it as background noise inside his head to keep him focused, blocking out all his other thoughts until he finally makes it to the exit.

There are people out on the streets, bundles of colorful scarves and raincoats. Tobio’s never really had a need for an umbrella because of his magic, and he summons up a small cloud above his head, dispelling the raindrops before they touch him. He steps onto the street to follow the flow of the crowd, walking around puddles and cracks as he makes his way to the Gates. The nearest one is just a few blocks away from his apartment, so it won’t be long before he gets there, the pitter-patter of the rain loud above his head. On the way there, he spots a couple of the raindrops that have turned into little fish, swimming around above their heads and bursting when they bump into something. A natural sort of rain at its very core, Tobio notes, but not the kind that’s immune to the atmosphere of magic that hangs light and heavy no matter where you go. Invincibility only works in the purest of forms, and magic always has a funny way of slipping right by you without even noticing.

In just a few more minutes, Tobio can make out the Gates at the end of the street, people disappearing as they walk right through it. He looks at the time on his phone, and picks up his pace, quickening his steps until he can see the passageway in its entirety. He traces the curved arch with his eyes, the space where the sky meets it in contrasting colors. For all the modernization that’s come with building an urban city, the Gates are made of old stones, stacked on top of one another to form a semi-circle above the ground. It stands at the end of the street, vines and flowers long overgrown and tracing patterns around it. Tobio wonders how long it’s been there for it to look old and yet still seem so sturdy—magic’s always been made of little wonders.

He walks through it, feeling a little tingle in his spine as the shimmer blends through his skin. When he steps out, feeling unchanged, he finds himself in a different part of the city, a little bit busier with the morning rush, crowds rushing through the streets. Pedestrian walkways float a few feet above his head, people suspended as they walk over it without any trouble, as though they were on solid ground. Some people teleport into place, popping right out of thin air, and each time it catches Tobio a little off-guard. He’s never been able to master it, the whole apparating thing, but he thinks it’d be really handy in times like these, or if he were running late. Not a lot of people have the magic of flight within them either, and those who do often use it to their advantage—soaring above the skylines with smooth precision, proof of what it means to really defy gravity—but the rain makes doing so a little trickier, so the skies remain empty today. A few more rainfish swim by him, passing through the sea of people with ease, and Tobio watches them go, bumping into walls or disappearing altogether. He’s made a few of them on his own before, but they’ve never been the resilient type to begin with.

Tobio continues walking, keeping one foot in front of the other. Karasuno Bakery isn’t too far from here, just a few more blocks ahead. He’s lucky he only needs to pass through one set of Gates to get there, and that it’s within that first boundary. There are limits to the teleportation system, a restriction every few hundred miles, and though it isn’t that difficult, Tobio would rather get to work as quickly and efficiently as possible. He stands at the streetlight and waits until the little green flame turns red, tucking his hands inside the pockets of his jacket. He tries not to get too close to anyone to avoid accidentally bumping into any of them, and keeps his head low, not wanting to be recognized in the event someone does manage to know of him. He moves quickly once the signal allows him, moving along with the crowd.

As he reaches the other side of the road, Tobio’s eyes catch on one of the billboards up ahead of him. The pictures move like a short looped video, charmed to repeat itself over and over, a splash of color amidst the dark-stained sky. He can’t stop it from falling into his sights, as big and bright as it is, but Tobio desperately wishes he hadn’t seen it at all, his gut twisting into something uncomfortable.

Oikawa Tooru’s face makes up most of the advertisement, half of his body shown as he plays around with water, bending it to his well and making it move and curl around his arms. He’s decided to grace the city with his signature grin, charming and knowing as ever, and perhaps that itself is its own kind of persuasion, Tobio thinks. He watches as Oikawa wills the water into a new shape, taking the form of letters, until he presents what he’s really there for, not just the star of the show but part of something even bigger. Part of something he _belongs_ in.

 _‘JOIN THE KING’S COVEN TODAY!’_ it reads, Oikawa taunts, the screen flashing the Coven’s logo for a moment, the bright gold seal taking a permanent place in the corner. Tobio fixates on it, a sharp pang of longing hitting his chest until it’s replaced with something unpleasant churning in his stomach, hot and bubbling and distasteful. He scowls, glaring at Oikawa Tooru’s prideful expression, and forces his gaze away. Of course he just had to see this today, didn’t he? Of course it would still follow after him, even until now. He hadn’t really minded all the Coven advertisements before, but that was _back then_ , back when he was in it and stood a chance, but now looking at it only makes the bitterness rise back to his throat, making him feel like he’s just drank expired milk. It’s not a good feeling.

He wonders how difficult it would be to conjure a lightning bolt to strike it down, bring down Oikawa’s smug face and send a message to the Coven in spite. The crackle of energy builds up in his fingers without even having to think about it, blue static beginning to thrum under his skin, and in the distance, thunder is given a voice to rumble, almost like a warning sign for what’s to come. It would be _so easy_ , he thinks to himself, clenching his fists as the video loops once more. It would be easy and simple, and no one would probably figure out it was him.

But then again—just how many prodigious weather witches are there in the city?

Tobio can’t. It’ll be all too much like last time, and he doesn’t really need _billboard-destroyer_ under the list of names he’s accumulated over the last few months, adding even more to his infamous reputation with yet another bold thing. And doing so wouldn’t even prove anything, would it? It’s not like the Coven will ever take him back, or he’ll be able to find another one. All he’ll end up with are burnt fragments of Oikawa’s face, and though Tobio will admit it does sound appealing, it won’t get him anywhere at all. It won’t bring him out of this situation, or reverse time. No, he’ll still be here, regretful but stubborn, because even after all this time Tobio holds steadfast to the idea that it hadn’t been all his fault. He’ll still be here.

Tobio takes a deep breath. In, out, in, out, until the magic fades away just a bit, back into something he can control. Careful not to let his eyes wander anywhere close to the stupid billboard, Tobio keeps his eyes trained on the ground as he continues his journey to work, avoiding the smaller ads and flyers. He tries not to think about a time before all of this, years ago, when he’d been young and reckless, just learning what the King’s Coven was, or what it meant to be in it. He forces those memories down, forgets about the bewilderment and the reassuring hand on his shoulder, the thrill and nervousness that had come with applying. That’s all in the past now, he supposes, a time that he’ll never be able to go back to.

Tobio rounds the block, finding the street where the bakery lies, other shops lined up one after the other to sandwich it in the middle. It’s not a very crowded street, as close as it is to the heart of the city, but maybe a gentler version, a little more mellow with room to breathe. He passes by a bookstore, still dark inside with the closed sign hanging in front, followed by the pet store that’s just beginning to wake, the muffled barks and squawks behind the glass beginning to grow. There’s even a tattoo parlor, with signs out in front that offers enchanted designs, a small but fancy-looking dress store, and a colorful flower shop. At the end of the street stands the convenience store where Tobio sometimes goes to buy milk and onigiri after work, buying packaged meals when he’s too exhausted to prepare his own. He hasn’t really visited the other stores, though, or knows what the people who work there look like. He probably should familiarize himself with more than just the location, Tobio tells himself, if he’s going to be stuck here for a little while longer.

As he heads closer to the bakery, he passes by the spell shop. Slowing down his steps, Tobio wonders if Hinata will be in today. If he’ll be standing behind the counter with the sun on his skin, the stars on his cheeks moving as he hums to himself, making up spells with simple and practiced movements. If he’ll be watering his plants like it’s a whole garden within four small walls, the golden light finding home wherever he is. If he’ll be smiling again, incandescent, surrounded by a wild kind of magic that only he fully understands.

If Tobio were to walk in, would he find Hinata there?

He shakes his head. It’s not like he has any actual reason to go inside, not when Hinata’s potion had worked so well. He shouldn’t even be feeling this way to begin with—he’s just a stranger, and so is Hinata. Sure, they’d exchanged names, but Tobio doesn’t really know anything else about him beyond his fascination with weird plants and an ability to talk for miles on end. He doesn’t have any reason to. And he needs one, doesn’t he? You always need a reason to want something.

All Tobio knows is that Hinata had been something else entirely, and it’s a little like magic, strange and unusual, how quickly he finds that he wouldn’t be opposed to learning a little more about him.

Swallowing, Tobio keeps his head forward, eyesight blurring over the several multi-colored posters on the storefront, and heads straight over to the bakery. It’s still closed, the sign flipped, but he can see Suga standing behind the counter. Daichi’s probably already at the back, and Tobio’s thankful that he doesn’t need to deal with Tsukishima just yet, since he’s taking the afternoon shift today.

He pushes the door open, the bell chiming softly and followed by a low squeal from Peanut. He snaps his fingers to dispel the cloud over his head, and it vanishes into the air. Suga looks up the moment Tobio steps in, waving at him with a bright smile. The silver of his hair glows sharp in the morning, and he pushes himself off of the chair to lean forward against the table, an amused smile playing on his lips.

“Good to see you aren’t blue anymore,” Suga quips, grinning. He hands Tobio a damp washcloth, and points to the other tables, a silent instruction. “You really surprised me with that one. I didn’t see it coming.”

“Yeah,” Tobio mumbles, and he gets started, wiping over the tables, drying it afterwards with a wave of a hand.

“Daichi didn’t really show it, but he thought it was really funny too,” Suga says, the teasing light on his lips. “We sent out all of the orders earlier this morning, by the way. It kind of makes me wish I went to a birthday party with color-changing cookies.”

Tobio hums, placid. Putting down the washcloth, he summons the broom and starts sweeping around the tables, keeping his actions light and simple. He hadn’t been to a lot of birthday parties as a kid. He doesn’t really like thinking about it.

Suga grins. “You think any of their faces will change color like yours did?”

He shrugs. “Maybe,” he answers. It depends on Tsukishia’s magic, after all, and Tobio’s still doesn’t quite trust it. Over the years he’s learned that you can learn a lot about someone based on the way they wield their magic, and he doesn’t exactly know what to think just yet. “I’m just glad that the reverse spell worked.”

Suga pops open the cash register and starts sorting through it. He smiles. “Yeah, Hinata’s really dependable,” he says. It’s embarrassing just how fast Tobio perks up at the name, curious about what the silver-haired man has to say about the boy next door with the summer eyes. Fortunately, Suga doesn’t seem to pick up on Tobio’s sudden interest, busy looking over something. “He’s helped us out a lot, especially when things need fixing.”

Tobio tries his best to look disinterested, but he can’t help the questions that threaten to spill out of his mouth. What else can Hinata do with his magic? Does he have a specialty? How long has he worked there?

“So?” Suga says, and he looks back up to meet Tobio’s pinched expression. A teasing smile rises to his lips. “What did you think?”

“Think of what?” Tobio stares at a sunbeam that’s fallen onto the tiled floor, a crack in the dark storm clouds. He remembers the way light had fallen in the spell shop, like it was a whole different world entirely, how it had touched Hinata’s skin like it always belonged there. He thinks about how the gold sloped on the green leaves, and how the whole place felt warm and cozy despite all the things inside. “Well, the store’s a mess. It looked like it was going to burst at any moment.” He looks back up at Suga, a little exasperated. “Did you know that snapdragons bite?”

Suga shakes his head lightly. “I’ve never heard of those before,” he says, leaning forward to rest his chin on his elbow. “But I wasn’t talking about the store.”

“Then what?”

Suga grins, sharp and mischievous. “Hinata, of course,” he says, and Tobio’s heart skips a beat. “What did you think of him?”

Tobio feels a warmth threaten to rise onto his face, but he wills it away, keeping his eyes on the ground lest he accidentally give himself away. “He’s…loud,” Tobio says slowly, measuring his words out carefully. “Talkative. Messy. Really damn _bright.”_

If possible, Suga only seems to smile even wider. “That sounds good,” he says simply, and Tobio gets the feeling that there’s something he’s missing, squinting his eyes as though the answer would unfold before him if he asked it to. “He’s nice too, isn’t he?”

Tobio remembers how Hinata had taken his hand and wrapped a hand-aid around his finger, careful and focused, even though Tobio could’ve done it well enough on his own. “I guess,” he mumbles, leaning against the broomstick like a staff.

“He can be a bit stubborn too sometimes,” Suga says, but it’s nothing but fond, chuckling to himself lightly. “And a handful. Always all over the place, like he’s never quite learned how to settle down.”

“He sounds like a lot,” Tobio says, and he thinks that it’s true, at least from what he’d been able to see from Hinata yesterday.

“Oh, he is,” Suga agrees, nodding. “Once Hinata’s set his mind on something, it can be really difficult to persuade him out of it. When he finds something interesting, he’s determined to see it through.” Suga winks. “A lot like you, don’t you think?”

Tobio shifts weight from where he stands. He really doesn’t know a lot about Hinata, but he’d like to know a little more, if he’s allowed to have it. Hinata had intrigued him in that wild way of his, and it certainly didn’t help that he looked like _that._

“I dunno,” Tobio says, because it’s all that he has to offer. Suga doesn’t seem to mind, offering Tobio a reassuring smile. He walks over to the doors and flips over the sign to tell the world they’re open, and the clock in the corner of the store chimes out loudly to call eight o’clock, a signal for when the day truly begins.

“You can go help Daichi at the back,” Suga tells Tobio, taking the seat behind the counter. “I’ll take care of the front for now. With all the rain, it doesn’t seem like it’s going to be a very busy day.”

Tobio nods. Wordlessly, he places the broom back to where it’s placed, and heads into the backroom, pushing the door open. Daichi greets him when he enters, and instructs Tobio to help him with the new and fresh batches of bread. Tobio works on transferring the bread from the oven and onto the other set of trays—even without magic, he can’t mess _that_ up—and helps Daichi out with some of the cakes, decorating them with steady hands. They don’t talk much, the two of them, but it’s a comfortable sort of silence, reliable. Tobio likes it that way—Daichi’s still scary at times, but only when he has good enough reason to be. Other times, he’s almost just as dorky as Suga is, but maybe that’s just what over-exposure and immeasurable fondness does to you after quite some time, Tobio thinks.

A couple more moments later, Suga peeps in through the door to ask Tobio for a hand now that customers are slowly beginning to trickle in for brunch. Daichi nods and says that he can do it by himself, and Tobio takes his leave, stepping back into the main part of the bakery. The rain is still coming down hard through the windows, filling up the streets with a pale mist, the droplets bouncing off the concrete with an inconsistent rhythm. Wet umbrellas are bunched together by the doorway, tiny puddles on the tiles, and Tobio waves a hand to dry it all up before placing himself behind the register. Suga nods at him from where he’s placing a plate of cream puffs on one of the tables, lips falling into an easy, charming smile as he speaks with their customers.

Tobio’s been told that it had been Suga’s idea to add a little more to the bakery, turning it into a cafe of sorts as well, serving bread and cake and coffee and all kinds of weird but delicious pastries. His plan had worked really well, in Tobio’s opinion. Despite being a little ways off the main section of the city, or perhaps because of it, a lot of people still come around, looking for something a little less hectic that the touch-and-go wonders of fast food and long lines. A place to breeze by, to catch up with old friends, or just watch the rain as it falls around the shop like a boundary. Homey.

There’s a jingle of the bell, and another group of customers walk in. Tobio switches into something more mechanical and repetitive—he waits until they walk up to him to buy their food, trying for pleasant smiles and niceties, and helping Suga when he needs it. It’s how it goes every day, a routine he’s managed to mold his body into getting used to, though it had been a little tricky at first. The stark contrast between this and what he used to do had been a little jarring, but Tobio’s never been a quitter, even with the smallest things. He learns what he needs to know and sticks with it, and sometimes those kinds of things just happen to be the right amount of sugar goes into baking bread.

Tobio watches as the people come and go, slipping out of the shop with their stomachs full and hearts lighter. There’s a group of girls who giggle to one another as they leave, gushing over Peanut, and another cluster of middle-aged adults who joke around with one another with ease. A couple that holds hands under the table but lets go when they have to stand, and a pair of siblings that never seem to stop bickering. Sometimes, Tobio likes to imagine the lives held underneath their coats. He’s never been very creative, but it’s a little fun thinking of storylines for people he’ll probably never see again. He makes up what kind of magic seems to suit them best, or if they’ve got other special attributes like Suga, trying to pass the time with only his thoughts to keep him company. It’s not the best, and it’s certainly not the most interesting, but it’s better than having nothing at all.

A couple of hours later, when most of the busy activity subsides, leaving just a few people hanging around and talking quietly amongst themselves, Tobio counts the minutes down to fifteen. The end of his shift is fast approaching, and he watches the clock for the moment he can slip out of his apron and step back outside into the rain, the skylight filled with loose threads he’s itching to stitch together.

He’s in the middle of yawning, cheek squished against the palm of his hand, arm propped up, when the door chimes another time, the little seashells dancing in the air with the movement. He finishes up folding one of the extra tissue sheets into a small star, and glances up to see who entered, wondering what they might like. The chocolate-filled bread’s been getting a lot of recognition these days, and Tobio himself can testify to just how good they are, having sampled Daichi’s food too many times to count. He’ll have to tell Daichi later that they’re running a little low on it out front before he leaves, just in case the afternoon crowd will want some of it too. Tobio looks over at the customer, and his breath immediately catches in his throat, the whole world stilling as he stares right ahead of him.

Because Hinata Shouyou has just walked in, and Tobio’s heart is trying to escape from his chest.

It leaps to his throat, and he feels it skyrocket, pounding like a loud and rapid drumbeat inside of him, trying to jump out of his ribcage and fall into Hinata’s hands. Tobio freezes in place, averts his eyes and tries not to stare—a feat he thinks he deserves an award for, because Hinata is as bright as they come, immediately eye-catching and vibrant, and it’s almost impossible not to look at him. But Tobio swallows the urge down, keeping Hinata in the corner of his eye, and pretends to immerse himself with the cash register, tracing the metal with a finger and hoping that Hinata won’t look his way.

Though that wish was already hopeless to begin with, since Tobio _does_ work here, and Hinata’s going to have to come up here to buy something eventually, and it might as well be inevitable that Hinata will see him. Would he even remember Tobio? He knows that they met just yesterday, but Tobio himself has a pretty crap memory when it comes to things that don’t interest him—anything that doesn’t have to do with his magic—and for all he knows Hinata could be the same. There are probably tons of customers who visit the spell shop every day for problems weirder than what Tobio had, so it’s unlikely that he’d be considered something special. And to someone like Hinata, being something special definitely means to be extraordinary, and Tobio’s not sure if he could ever dream of qualifying.

Would Hinata even recognize him now that his skin isn’t blue?

Ducking his head, Tobio pretends not to notice Hinata as he browses through the shelves—if someone were to ask, Tobio would insist that he _isn’t_ looking, but in truth he keeps sneaking glances anyway, because he really can’t help it, and it’s not _his_ fault if Hinata’s presence is just that _loud_. Hinata’s got his tongue sticking out, eyes looking over at all the options, and it’s hopelessly adorable. Tobio’s heart drums anxiously inside his chest, waiting for the moment that Hinata picks something and has to buy it, and maybe even orders a cup of coffee, which would make him hang around even longer. Tobio doesn’t know if he wants Hinata to stay.

Thankfully, Tobio’s momentarily given a distraction by the presence of another customer approaching the customer, her order ready on her tongue as Tobio nods along. He tries to calm his shaky hands—what’s he so nervous for anyway?—and takes the money, exchanging it for a pack of special bread from the shelf. Tobio places the Mora into the cash register, his mind whirring as he tries to compute for the right amount of change, and hands it over quickly as possible. She smiles before leaving, and Tobio nods, his eyes immediately flickering over to where he last saw Hinata, to catch a glimpse of what he’s doing now—except he isn’t there anymore. Tobio searches all over the bakery, but there’s no sign of him. Maybe he left? But Tobio would’ve heard the bell ring, or at least _noticed—_

“Looking for someone?” says a voice from in front of him, and Tobio nearly jumps straight out of his skin.

“Holy shit,” he blurts out.

Hinata Shouyou grins, cheeky and bright. “That’s what you said yesterday too.”

Tobio flushes. “It’s you.”

Hinata smiles even wider. “It’s me,” he says, amused, a light laugh escaping his lips as he rocks on his heels back and forth. He hums, his fingers drumming against the wooden counter. “I didn’t know you worked here.”

“I—uh, yeah,” Tobio says, swallowing thickly. He’s sweating. Why is he sweating? Why does he feel so nervous? “I’m still—I’m still a bit new.”

“That’s probably why I’ve never seen you around before,” Hinata tells him, his smile gentle and kind. “Well, Yamaguchi did say that Tsukishima’s been complaining a lot about some new guy at work.”

Tobio tries not to roll his eyes, letting out a little huff. “It’s not my fault he’s an ass.”

Hinata grins, and Tobio marks down the sharp curve of his lips, how it softens out into a light laugh. He’d argue it was a special kind of magic all on its own. “I take it that means you two don’t get along that well.”

“He’s the one who turned my face blue,” Tobio deadpans. “I’d say we don’t get along at all.”

Hinata bursts out laughing, his shoulders shaking slightly as he hugs his stomach, tipping his head back just like a little kid. “Of course it was his doing,” he says, shaking his head in amusement, and that dizzying smile is back. He leans forward on the counter, propping his elbow up on it. “It wouldn’t be the first time.”

Tobio raises an eyebrow. “The first time?”

“Yeah!” Hinata answers, and his cheeks glow a light shade of pink, a little like embarrassment. “One time I was hanging around here, you know, minding my own business, and then Tsuksihima came out with this _huge_ batch of ginger cookies for the Christmas special. And then he just left them there on the counter!” Hinata waves his hands around for emphasis, moving around wildly. “And what was I supposed to do? I was _so hungry_ , and the cookies just smelled so good. So _obviously_ I had to try them. Guess what happened next?”

Tobio hums. “It was hexed so that all your bones would turn into jelly?”

Hinata gives him a look, his lips quirking upwards, but then he shakes his head. “Well, no, but that’s definitely a good one! Do you mind if I try that on his birthday?”

Tobio doesn’t even hesitate. “Be my guest.”

Hinata beams. “So anyway,” he says. “You wanna know what happened next?”

Tobio places his cheek on his palm. “Just spit it out, dumbass.”

“Rude, Kageyama,” Hinata shoots back, sticking his tongue out. Tobio, in an act of complete maturity, makes a face right back at him. “So do you wanna know or not?”

“Would I still be here if I didn’t?” Tobio asks, and he relishes in the way another smile graces Hinata’s lips. He seems to like doing that a lot, smiling. Like Hinata Shouyou is a boy built with too many of them to hand out, generous with how often he spends them. Tobio’s never been good at smiling all that much either.

“Technically, _you’re_ the one who works here—” Hinata begins to say, cheeky.

Tobio groans, and Hinata laughs. “So did he or did he not hex you?”

“Obviously he did!” Hinata exclaims, and he’s bouncing on his toes, steady like the rain outside. “Would asking for a drumroll be too much?” Tobio gives him a look. “No? Okay.”

Hinata takes a deep breath, and Tobio wonders if he’s always this dramatic. “The cookies made me shrink!” he says, throwing his hands up in the air. His eyes level with Tobio’s almost as though he’s trying to relay how serious it is. “Do you know how insulting that was? Just because he’s _sooo_ tall! I’m convinced he’s distantly related to some giants or something, and he just doesn’t want to admit it!”

Tobio feels a smile rise unwittingly to his lips, trying not to let too much of his amusement show. “I don’t think that’s as bad as turning blue.”

Hinata crosses his arms, eyes narrowing. “Small, Kageyama! He made me small! That’s, like, at least ten times worse!”

Tobio thinks about retorting that it’s actually _not that bad_ , but Hinata seems to have a height issue—he _is_ a bit short, but Tobio has a feeling that he’s better off never commenting about that—and he’d really rather not upset the cute guy who sort of decided that talking to Tobio was worth his time, despite the circumstances that they met and the situation that they’ve found themselves in today. He’d really like it if Hinata liked him back too. Maybe they could be friends, Tobio thinks. That would be nice, wouldn’t it? He’s been lonely for a really long time, and the weight of it is finally beginning to wear on his bones now that he doesn’t have much of anything else to think about that isn’t related to magic or the Coven. A friend...a friend would be good, and he has a feeling that starting an argument probably isn’t the best way to approach something like that.

So instead, Tobio just nods along, and traces along the hard edge of the wood. “So how’d you get back to normal?”

“Oh, same as you,” Hinata answers easily, a bright grin returning to his lips with ease. Tobio’s lost count of just how many he’s given out in this one conversation alone, but he also doesn’t think he’d ever get tired of seeing them. But that’s a little too forward of him, isn’t it? To ask for something like that?

“Yachi helped me make a restoration spell, and I was back to normal the next morning,” he tells Tobio. “I got back at Tsukishima though,” Hinata says, and a mischievous glint flashes in his eyes. It stirs something within Tobio—something a little excited, a tiny boost of adrenaline, even if he doesn’t really know what for. Maybe Hinata’s just like his shop—a wild sort of charm that reels you in without even properly realizing it.

“Oh, yeah?” Tobio says, curious. “How’d you manage that?”

Hinata smirks “Tsukishima’s favorite is strawberry shortcake, right?” he says, and Tobio nods, though it’s not something he’d known beforehand. He could care less about what Tsukishima likes or not. “So I made sure that all the shortcakes he ate for the next two weeks tasted bitter, even if he made them himself or if they were bought from somewhere else. They were always bitter.” He looks proud of himself, smiling to himself. “Tsukishima was absolutely _pissed_ , and he wouldn’t speak to me for weeks,” Hinata continues, grinning. “Serves him right for making me small!”

Ever since yesterday at the spell shop, Tobio’s been trying to figure out what Hinata’s specialty is. He’d thought that they could be potions given the nature of his store, or maybe plant-related with how many of them he’s got scattered all over his shop, but that little bit with the shortcakes doesn’t match either of them at all. In fact, he’s not really sure what to classify it as.

“That reminds me!” Hinata says suddenly, startling Tobio a little. “I came up here to buy a box of chocolate cinnamon rolls!”

“Oh. Right,” Tobio says, blinking. It takes him a moment to get a bearing back to where he is, reaching over to the pre-made boxes to his left, kept warm by a small heatwave of his own doing, and picking the right one. For a moment, he’d forgotten what Hinata was here for exactly. “It’s, uh, two hundred Mora.”

“Okay,” Hinata says with a little hum, pulling a wallet out of his pocket. In just a matter of seconds, he hands Tobio a few coins, fortunately paying in exact, and Tobio places them into the register, handing Hinata the receipt. “Thanks.”

Tobio nods. “Yeah.”

He feels a little awkward now. Is he supposed to say something? Hinata already got what he came for, and there isn’t really a reason for him to stay any longer. Truth be told, Tobio’s not really sure why they’d spent so long talking to begin with—though he will admit that it was nice, and that he’d like to do it again some time, even if Hinata seems to be a little like a gremlin when he wants to be. He’s...interesting. Tobio had been right about that.

“So, uh,” Hinata says, and Tobio thinks he’s imagining the slight flush that creeps up his neck, just the barest bit of sunset pink on his star-freckled cheeks. “I probably should—I need to get back to the shop in case someone comes, but it was—it was nice seeing you again, Kageyama.”

“I—yeah. You should head back,” Tobio says, averting his eyes. He swallows down thickly, wondering what exactly about Hinata Shouyou makes him feel so familiar, and why this doesn’t even seem like a goodbye at all.

“You could—come over to shop some time, would you? It’s right next door, and I’d like it a lot if you—” Hinata pauses, his cheeks reddening. Tobio watches a blush bloom on his skin, gentle like a rose in the springtime. “I mean! Only if you want to, of course! You don’t actually have to, I just thought it would be nice to talk to you again, and you know, the shop is right there, and you can come visit even if you aren’t hexed or something stupid like that—but it’s completely up to you. I’m not pressuring you or anything, I’m just saying—”

“Yes,” Tobio cuts him off. It’s his turn to blush now, and he feels his heart stumble blindly within his chest, clumsy and messy. “I’ll—I’d like to come over some time, if that’s okay with you.”

Hinata seems to light up immediately, his eyes turning into a beautiful autumn gold. A glint of firelight. “Really? You mean it?”

Tobio looks away, unable to handle the brightness of Hinata’s gaze, and the excitement that seems to spill out of him at the simplicity of a halfway promise. “Yeah,” he says, coughing. “Yeah, sure.”

“That’s great!” Hinata exclaims, and that toothy grin is back, lopsided and charming all in one. He takes the box from the counter, carrying it in his arms. “I gotta go now, but I’ll see you later, Kageyama!”

Tobio tries to keep his heart from jumping right out of his chest. “Yeah,” he manages to say. “See you later.”

Hinata shoots him one last smile before turning around and heading towards the door. Tobio feels a light pressure slowly begin to release from his body, the tension melting away from his shoulders. God, he’s a mess. Hinata’s gotten him mixed up so quickly, and Tobio isn’t all that sure if he likes it or not. He’s never done this before, and he’s definitely not used to it. Where is he supposed to go from here? This is assuming he’ll even manage to gather the courage to go over with the knowledge that Hinata is _there—_

“Oh, one more thing!” Hinata calls out from the other end of the bakery, the door already swinging half-open. He looks over at Tobio, a grin to his lips, something bright and devious in his eyes. “Without all the blue on your face,” he begins to say, a curl of a smile growing wider. “It’s much more obvious how pretty you are. Especially your eyes.” Hinata winks. “Okay, bye, Kageyama!”

Tobio’s face bursts into flames.

He doesn’t even know what to think—all he can do is stare at the spot where Hinata had been not too many moments ago, looking like a sunbeam right from the heavens. _Pretty,_ Hinata had said. Well, Hinata had said a lot of things, really, but this has to take the cake. Tobio’s uncertain if he can ever recover from this, or if there’s anything else he could possibly think about. He’s not sure about what he should be feeling either—he’s probably overthinking this anyway, right? It probably doesn’t even mean anything. Boys like Hinata are bound to find lots of things pretty, especially if they’re so generous with things like laughter. Tobio doesn’t know where he fits into that.

Instead, he tries to keep himself focused, especially since more customers are coming in, but his head feels fuzzy and his stomach is squishy, like butterflies have made a home and snuggled right in. Tobio tells himself he can think about all of this later once he gets home, maybe while he’s making up little thunder clouds while making dinner or spinning tabletop tornadoes to keep himself busy. He can do whatever he wants later, but right now he’d also really like to not get fired. He just needs to get through this. He’ll be fine. He can do it; he’s been through worse things, after all.

(Though none of things have ever been the likes of Hinata Shouyou, have they?)

Tobio sighs, buries his face in his palms, and rubs them down his face. With a deep breath, he looks back up, and finds himself staring back at the doorway. He looks through the windows, glazing over the direction Hinata had taken, like an echo of a bird taking flight. And just as he’s tracing the way light fractures down towards them in a honeyed daylight, Tobio realizes something, something that should’ve been obvious, and it feels a lot like a stutter within his ribcage. Huh. It’s funny, isn’t it?

He hadn’t even noticed when the rain had stopped.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the next chapter should be up in a day or two!! 
> 
> you can find me on [tumblr!](https://superish.tumblr.com) thank you for reading!! <3


	2. all i know is a new found grace

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Oh, you’re on, Kageyama Tobio,” Hinata says, a wicked look in his eyes, and Tobio doesn’t understand what the hell’s happening at all. “Two can play at that game. You’re not the only one with tricks.”

It takes Tobio five days to gather the courage and see Hinata again.

Obviously, he needed a proper excuse—he wasn’t just going to go over there without reason, or stumble in blindly into the shop without a proper purpose. Hinata would see right through him, and while Tobio knows that Hinata _had_ told him that he could come even if he didn’t have a magic problem, something about that didn’t settle quite right with him. He wasn’t sure what to call them just yet, but he’s pretty sure that was the sort of things _friends_ did _—_ hanging out just for the fun of it _—_ but he doesn’t even know if that’s what he can call the two of them yet. _Friends_. They hadn’t even known each other for that long, and Tobio’s never done this before. He doesn’t know where the lines in the sand are, or what boundaries he’s allowed to touch. This is all so new, and Hinata is… Hinata is something else entirely. Hinata is different, even if Tobio isn’t really sure why exactly.

There’s no way it’s possible, but Tobio swears that it feels like he’s known Hinata longer than this. That they’ve met before, that they’re already familiar with each other not to worry too much about such things. That he _knows_ Hinata, even if he doesn’t. It’s a strange feeling. Almost like he’s seen Hinata in a dream before, or in another life.

Tobio doesn’t know what that point of that really is, or if there even is one. But if he were to turn it into something, if he were to give it meaning, what would it tell him? What would it say about him and Hinata? What would he learn to make of it?

He shakes his head. That doesn’t matter _—_ even if it’s how he feels, it’s highly unlikely that it’s the same for Hinata. They’ve known each other for a week, and there’s nothing else he has in his hands except the present. There’s only the _now_ , this sacred new beginning, and Tobio hopes, more than anything, that he won’t mess this one up. Just this once, he’d like to get things right. Just this once, so that he can find a piece of himself in the future that’s better than who he is today. Maybe he’s being dramatic again, because he really has no idea where this is going to go, but he’d like to try. Maybe he hasn’t quite figured out what about Hinata Shouyou makes him so intriguing, but well, there’s only one way to find out, isn’t there?

But first _—_ Tobio needs to actually enter the shop.

In all honesty, he knows he probably looks like a complete idiot. He’s been standing outside the shop door for the last ten minutes just trying to bring himself to step inside. He remembers how Suga had basically shoved him outside the bakery when he found out Tobio was planning to go over _—_ Tobio had even made sure to be sneaky about it, going only once it was his break, but somehow Suga had found out, and basically pushed Tobio straight out the door once the clock striked thirty.

Squaring his shoulders and lifting his head up, Tobio holds his hand out in front of him, pressing it lightly on the door. It feels like his heart is in his throat, pounding loudly between his ears, as though he’s standing on a fault line and the unknown resides on the other side of this door. Which is ridiculous, really, because it’s just a spell shop, and it’s just Hinata, who really shouldn’t be making Tobio feel the way he does—like everything inside him has turned into jelly, and it’s taking every bit of him not to ask to see a little more of his familiar heart.

This is stupid.

Shaking his head, Tobio grits his teeth, blows out a breath, and finally pushes the door open. The wind chime plays a different tune from last time, if he’s remembering right—possibly magicked—and all it takes is one glance for Tobio to learn that it’s just as chaotic and messy as the last time he’d been in here. Maybe even more so, he thinks to himself, ducking under a cluster of floating books and quills and trying not to bump into the jar-filled shelves. He’s not quite certain of what he’s going to do exactly—he’s not even sure if Hinata will be here today—but he’d brought an old music box of his just in case. It was his grandfather’s, and the music’s long since been able to play right, so he’d taken it from his closet in hopes that it would be a good enough reason to be here. In all sincerity, he’d really like it to get fixed too; it’s one of the few things he has left from Kazuyo-san, and it would be nice to hear the song again. Maybe it could take him back to a simpler time, even just for a moment.

He’s just about to reach the counter when he hears a bit of a muttering off to the right side. Tobio glances over quickly at the desk and finds no one there, just the unsuspecting snapdragon and usual mess, so he figures that there wouldn’t be much use going over there right now. He listens to the traces of footsteps, the mumbling too soft for him to be able to make out any of the words. Rounding one of the taller shelves, Tobio heads over to the side, wondering what oddity the shop has in store for him today.

There he finds Hinata, standing with his hands on his hips, his back to Tobio as he apparently seems to be in a deep conversation with the large potted plant before him.

“…and that’s just what I’m trying to say, you know? It doesn’t have to be some grand thing or something special. You can just let it happen and see where it goes.. I keep trying to tell myself that, like a reminder, but it can be easy to forget sometimes. What’s important is that you take care of yourself. Grow at your own pace. Most things turn out okay eventually anyway. Have you ever noticed that? It’s a little funny, the way the world works sometimes. I was—”

Tobio clears his throat, and Hinata jumps a little, his hands clapping together just as he turns around.

A book hits Tobio’s side almost within that next instant, inciting a sharp pain to his left side, and he yelps at the impact. The book falls to the floor and he glares down at it.

“Sorry!” Hinata exclaims, taking a few steps forward, his hands flailing around. “It was out of habit, and you surprised me, so I wasn’t really thinking!”

“It’s fine,” Tobio says, waving a hand dismissively as he rubs at his ribs. It doesn’t hurt very much, and as the seconds pass it just leaves a dull ache. It’s not like Tobio hasn’t been hit by wayward books before—back at the Coven, the library had been full of them, and with all the enticing magic, Tobio isn’t much of a stranger to it at this point.

He raises an eyebrow. “Is it gonna be like this every time I come over? Somehow getting injured?”

Hinata snorts, shaking his head as a smile rises to his lips. “Don’t be so dramatic, Kageyama. You just said you were fine, and you were barely even hurt last time.”

“I was _bleeding_!” Tobio exclaims in protest, but he can feel his lips twitch into a smile before he can even stop himself. Hinata’s grinning too, breathing out a soft laugh as he shakes his head again, placing his hands back on his hips.

“Oh, yes, of course,” Hinata quips back, mirth dancing in his eyes. He looks especially bright today, Tobio notes, like his hair has turned golden in the sunlight streaming through the windows, eyes wild and mellow like a sunset. Or maybe he always just looks like that, and Tobio’s still trying to get used to it. “How could I have forgotten?”

Tobio shrugs his shoulders, remnants of the smile still on his lips as he struggles to tame it down. He’s never really been one for smiling—he’s been told his smiles can be kind of scary if he forces it—so it’s a wonder how easy it is for Hinata to pull one right out of him like it’s nothing but air. Perhaps that’s a different kind of magic altogether, one Tobio hasn’t heard about yet. He almost wonders if he should be afraid.

Shrugging his shoulders, Tobio half-heartedly gestures to the plant behind Hinata, the large, overgrown leaves sticking right out of the old painted pot, so much that it’s begun to overlap with the plants next to it. “I don’t hope I was interrupting something earlier,” he says, raising an eyebrow.

Hinata’s cheeks turn pink almost in an instant, the embarrassment clearly written all over his face.He opens his mouth, closes it, and opens it again, almost as though he’s trying to find what to say. Huffing out an awkward laugh, he brings a hand up to rub the back of his neck. “I wasn’t—I don’t—I know plants can’t—” Hinata cuts himself off with a groan, burying his face in his palms. It’s...strangely endearing, Tobio thinks, trying to force down his own blush.

Hinata raises his head, his fingers coming apart just enough for Tobio to see a brown eye peek through. “You probably think I’m weird now, don’t you?”

Tobio rolls his eyes. “I _already_ think you’re weird, dumbass.”

It takes another second or two before Hinata brings his hands back down, handing Tobio a sheepish grin. Tobio has half a mind to remind himself that he probably shouldn’t be calling other people dumbasses if they aren’t that close—especially if they’re pretty boys like Hinata, who Tobio would very much like to get to know more—but he can’t help the way the familiarity slips right out of him without warning, without hesitation. It seems like it fits anyway, and Hinata doesn’t seem to mind.

“Heh,” Hinata says with a lopsided smile, the traces of the blush still lingering on his cheeks. He straightens up a little, slowly getting over his brush with mortification. “Glad to see you’re still here then.”

Tobio presses his lips together. “I heard that talking to plants is good for them anyway,” he says, and Hinata brightens up, nodding. “So it isn’t the weirdest thing in this whole shop. And I haven’t seen everything yet.”

“Then I’ll just have to show you sometime,” Hinata says, something light and teasing in his tone. “It means you’ll have to keep coming over, though. Might need to get you used to getting a little injury here and there, if you don’t mind.”

Tobio shrugs, and feels another smile tug at his lips. “I’ve been through worse,” he says, trying to sound as casual as possible. He wonders if Hinata can hear the beating of his heart, how it seems to slip through the cracks of his ribs and into the floorboards, pulsing and shaking the ground that Tobio feels as though his knees will give out, shaky and unstable. He tries to wipe his hands on his jeans, but the bag he’s holding blocks his way, and the soft clink of metal reminds Tobio of his little excuse in the first place.

“Oh, right,” he mutters, mostly to himself, but Hinata perks up at it, tilting his head a little. “I, um. I brought my old music box. It was enchanted, and the spell got broken a couple years back, so I was, uh, I was wondering if you might have anything to fix it?”

Hinata smiles, and Tobio curses internally, nearly convinced that Hinata had seen right through him. But he says nothing, instead just takes the bag Tobio stretches out to offer him, taking the box carefully in his hands. It’s a little dusty, and the gold lining has chipped off a bit on the edges, but it’s as exquisite as Tobio remembers it to be. Kazuyo-san had always preferred simplicity over much grander things, and this is one of the few items that he’d treasured the most.

Gingerly, Tobio watches as Hinata turns the small handle, the gears clicking as he spins it backward. When he lets go, it begins to turn the other way, but no sound comes out.

“It’s supposed to play a few different songs,” Tobio explains. “I wasn’t really sure if it would be possible, since I’m guessing it was a specific kind of spell. I tried fixing it myself before, and when I looked it up, it said that there might still be remnants of magic left inside. It’s not my specialty, so nothing ever really worked.”

“Hm,” Hinata hums to himself, and Tobio swears he can see him thinking. He’s not good at fixing things, much less enchanted items, so he’d been totally clueless about it. Miwa hadn’t known what to do either, so they simply decided to leave it in Tobio’s care for safekeeping.

Hinata looks up at Tobio suddenly, his eyes bright. “I think I might have something for you,” he says, and Tobio’s eyes widen, the hope ballooning in his chest. “It might take me a moment or two, since I’ll have to look for the right items. You don’t mind waiting, do you?”

Tobio shakes his head. “I’ll be right here.”

Hinata grins. “Great,” he says. “You can just look around, do whatever you like. I’ve heard that watering the candy poppies can be kinda lucky, so anyone’s free to water them. It’s up to you, of course.” He points over to a pot over by the edge of the windowsill, blooming against the daylight. “I’ll be back in a bit.”

Tobio nods, and watches as Hinata leaves, a little unsure what to do with himself. He stands there awkwardly for a moment, holding onto his empty paper bag. He stares at the plant Hinata had been talking to when he entered, tracing the red flowers that bloom at the edges, pink dots on the petals. He doesn’t recognize it, so it must be one of those rare and special kinds that Hinata had talked about before. It does look pretty, though, Tobio will admit.

He lets himself look around for a while, eyes scanning over the different bottles scattered across the shelves, arranged through a system he doesn’t quite understand. Some of the labels are written in messy handwriting, some of the jars filled with glowing liquids and others holding ashy smoke. Tobio isn’t familiar with a lot of them, but he supposes there’s always been a reason he was never too good into potions. There’s even a mirrorball, shimmering and shining, and Tobio looks at it in curiosity for a moment before moving on. He walks around slowly, careful not to touch anything in case they might explode—in places like these you can never be too sure—until he makes it around the counter.

He finds the plant Hinata had pointed out earlier. Orange petals with little yellow spots, a small, ginger little thing. Luck, huh? Tobio’s been short of that recently. He figures he could do with some now, real or not. He’s never been quite the believer in these kinds of things, but there’s no harm in trying, is there? The only way he can go is up.

Tobio eyes the small watering can on the corner, and he’s just about to pick it up when he remembers what had happened last time. He’s not familiar with what this is—he’s never even heard of anything remotely similar to a _candy poppy_ —and after what happened with the snapdragon, he’s not too eager to come close and touch it. He doesn’t want to risk it—what if it turns into a tornado or something? Hinata would never speak to him again, that’s for sure.

Tobio presses his lips together. With a snap of his fingers, he summons a small rain cloud, careful to make sure that it won’t overwhelm the plant and drown it. That would be even more disastrous. He’s done this before though, back when Kazuyo-san made him practice his magic in the garden, so it’s not too difficult. He thinks he’s watered it enough after a moment, readying himself to expel it when—

“How are you doing that?” a voice speaks from behind him, and Tobio nearly jumps. He turns to find Hinata there, and _god, he really needs to stop doing that._ Hinata’s eyes are wide in wonder and amazement, looking right up at Tobio with his eyes shining in curiosity.

“Doing what?” Tobio says, waving a hand so that the cloud disappitates, leaving a faint trail of sky blue wisp behind it—traces of his own magic.

“The rain cloud!” Hinata exclaims, gesturing to the empty space above the poppy. He looks fired up, excited even, and Tobio’s a little confused as to what part of it was so amazing to elicit something like this. “That was so cool! How’d you do that? Can you teach me?”

Tobio blinks. “The...rain cloud? But that’s not—” he falters. It’s not something he’d really seen as cool, not after he’d finally been able to master it. He didn’t think anyone would find it extraordinary, not after all this time. But now Hinata is standing there, looking as genuine and earnest as the ocean at midnight, and Tobio doesn’t quite know how to react.

“It’s not what?” Hinata asks, looking up at Tobio in confusion. “I’ll learn it fast, I swear. It would just be helpful, you know? That way I won’t have to keep getting water when I’m watering the plants.”

“But—” Tobio tries to argue. Of course it’s simple for him; he’s been practicing it for years, and he’s always had an affinity for weather magic. Would Hinata even…? “Your magic,” Tobio says, his throat feeling a little dry. The curiosity has been bugging him for a while now, about exactly what kind of magic Hinata holds within himself, and the question is right at the tip of his tongue, trying to escape his lips. “Would it even…? What’s your—your specialty?”

Hinata seems taken aback for a moment, staring out with “My special— _oh_ ,” before the realization seems to dawn on him. He presses his lips into a thin line, like he’s trying to come up with the right words to say. Tobio wonders if he will find it. Then, after a moment, Hinata looks directly at Tobio, and gives his answer.

“I don’t have one,” he says simply.

“What,” Tobio deadpans. “What do you mean _you don’t have one_?”

Hinata shrugs, as though it really is that simple. “I don’t have a specialty,” he repeats, and Tobio doesn’t know what else to do but _stare_. He waits for Hinata to elaborate, but he swears that a whole minute passes and Hinata doesn’t seem to have any intention of clarifying.

“How do you...not have a specialty?” Tobio says, trying to let his words fall gently. He had wanted to know the answer, but now that it’s right in front of him, he doesn’t really know what to make of it. He guesses it kind of _does_ make sense, that Hinata is able to run a spell shop with so many potions and handle so many different kinds of magic at once, but he’d assumed there’d be at least _something_.

Hinata just looks at Tobio, half-amused, a small smile on his face. “I just don’t have one,” he says. “I never really chose just one thing to be good at. That way, I can keep trying all sorts of things, you know? I don’t have to restrict myself.”

“It’s not _restricting—_ ” Tobio says back, just about to barrel into a proper defense, when he realizes that his kind of thinking, the one he holds onto now, it’s exactly what the King’s Coven had been founded on. Pick a specialty and stick to it. Master it to the best of your ability, and then maybe if you’re good enough, they’ll let you join them. Most people these days stick to one kind of magic, but not as steadfast as those in the Coven did, and Tobio had aspired to be just like them once. Still does, to an extent. And Hinata—for all Tobio knows, Hinata might not _care_ about the Coven. As unlikely as it is, he might not even know it exists.

And to say that Hinata’s magic is wrong simply because it isn’t like his, to dictate what should be done—isn’t that the same reason he’d gotten kicked out in the first place?

“It’s not restricting,” he says, a little more carefully. “It just helps to be good at one thing. That way you’ll always have something to fall back on.”

Hinata doesn’t seem too convinced, though. “But if I just stuck to one thing,” he replies, his tone not accusing in the slightest, but rather something more curious, like he’s genuinely trying to understand. “How would I be able to try everything else magic has to offer? There’s so many possibilities—how could I just choose one thing?”

“You can still try other things,” Tobio says. “Most of your focus just stays within one area.”

“Huh,” Hinata says, considering. Tobio wishes he was better at words, just so he could explain the way he feels a little more properly—that this is the way he’d always been taught, that he’d grown up with a storm for a heart and with lightning on his fingertips. That weather magic is all he’s ever known, his one constant, what he’s always been good at—and how one day it had no longer been enough. He doesn’t think he could find the right words for that. “That’s one way to look at it, isn’t it?”

 _Have you ever heard of the King’s Coven?_ Tobio wants to ask, to see just how far Hinata’s knowledge extends. To see what lines there are. If Hinata were to say yes, would that mean he knows of Tobio too?

But—not yet. It’s too soon, and frankly, Tobio’s afraid of the answer. He’s afraid of what it would mean if Hinata were to be aware of such things. If he were to know Tobio for what his mistakes had proven themselves to be, just as the rest of the city whispers his name under shadowed streetlights and lost moons. He would lose this all too quickly, right before he’s able to even give it a name.

“So,” Hinata says, and a smile is making its way back up to his face, almost like a soft nudge of reassurance. “Are you gonna teach me or what?”

Tobio wants to ask him if he’s joking, but he finds that despite his light tone, Hinata does look serious, looking straight at Tobio with a curious look in his eyes. It feels like the battle’s already been lost, and Tobio doesn’t really see any harm in it. There’s no worrying about magic compatibility if Hinata truly has no specialty, and there’s not much left that Tobio can do about that.

“If you really want me to,” he says, shrugging his shoulders. He’s never really had to teach anyone before, and perhaps Hinata might even have an affinity for it. There’s really only one way to find out.

Hinata nods, eager, and Tobio takes a deep breath. With another snap of his fingers, a little cloud appears next to him, just a couple of inches above his head. He doesn’t ask it to rain yet lest he get the floor wet, so he summons an empty bucket from the side to place it right underneath. Then with another snap, a soft drizzle comes pouring down, filling up the bucket slowly.

“Usually, I just, uh, I just imagine I’m holding cotton candy in my hands,” Tobio tries to explain, holding his hands out in front of him. “I try to imagine that it’s really there, and that there’s a bit of rain coming out of it, just a rain cloud.” He watches as Hinata mimics his actions, tongue sticking out as he concentrates. “It took me a while to get it when I was a kid, so I started off with just regular clouds at first. The rain came later.”

Hinata nods, and there’s a couple of moments in silence as Hinata tries to summon a cloud. Tobio watches him, traces the slope of the light on his cheekbones, and thinks about what kind of magic Hinata might just have inside him after all, if he’s capable of all these different kinds of things. It doesn’t really sit right with him, to not have a specialty, but he’s also under the impression that it’s just got something to do with the way he’s been taught. Maybe. It doesn’t seem like a very good idea not to just stick to one thing, but he also doesn’t want to offend Hinata too badly.

Then, after a minute passes, Tobio can make out the soft core of a cloud just beginning to form in the space in front of him. It takes a minute more before the cloud finally solidifies himself, and he hears Hinata’s squeak of triumph, right before his excitement gets the better of himself, “ _Kageyama! Kageyama, look_ —” and the cloud pops, turning into droplets of water and falling right into the bucket.

“Oh,” Hinata says, sounding a little disappointed as he stares at the bucket. Tobio panics, immediately trying to think of words to comfort him—what did Kazuyo-san used to say to him?—and scrambling for somewhere to find purchase. But then Hinata looks back up at him, and Tobio finds that he’s _smiling_. Surprised, Tobio blinks, unsure of what to say now.

“Did you see that, Kageyama? Did you?” Hinata asks, eyes bright and happy. “That was so cool! I’ve never done that before! A cloud! An actual cloud! I was so close, I could feel it!” He huffs out a laugh, running a hand through his hair. “I’ll get it in no time! What do you think? I’ll be making it rain before you even know it!”

Tobio nods. “Yeah,” he manages to say, his head still spinning a little. Hinata’s bouncing on his toes, clearly enthusiastic and happy about his achievement, and Tobio agrees. Hinata had managed it well in a short amount of time. It _is_ pretty impressive, given that he doesn’t have an affinity for it as Tobio does. Maybe there’s even more to Hinata Shouyou than he’d originally thought.

Hinata grins at him again, before his attention falls to something behind Tobio. “Oh, right! Your music box!” Tobio watches as he runs over to stand behind the counter. There’s a new object that wasn’t there before: a single piano key, almost like it had been taken out all by itself. Tobio doesn’t even want to think about where Hinata managed to get one, thinking he might as well go along with it. Hinata takes the piano key and taps it gently against the music box thrice, before whispering something Tobio isn’t able to make out. He doesn’t understand what happens exactly, but in that nex instant the music box glows golden, wisps of light hovering around as it floats a little off the counter, before settling back down and turning back to normal, as though it was never touched.

Hinata doesn’t waste another moment. He picks up the music box and turns the handle. There’s a soft sound, a gentle tinkle of the bell, before it’s followed by another, slow and steady until a melody picks up on the space around the chords. And _oh,_ Tobio hasn’t heard this song in years—it takes him back almost immediately, to a night tucked into the sheets, warm and fluffy, his grandfather lying next to him with a storybook in his hands. The words he speaks make a tale of dragons and knights and princes, and the music box plays the rhythm of marching soldiers and enchanted forests. The rain thuds against the windows like its own sort of lullaby, and Tobio lets himself get lost in the ramblings of an old man, the wisest he’s ever been found in the moments he makes for childish stories. Even now, Tobio still remembers this song, the one Kazuyo-san had saved for his favorite stories, and Tobio swears it’s like the music notes imprint themselves back onto his skin, never to be forgotten.

“It’s beautiful,” Hinata says, his voice filled with awe as the song reaches its last few notes. Tobio hears the faint ticking as the wind-up reaches the end before stopping completely, but the silence that follows isn’t empty at all. Instead, he thinks he feels a little fulfilled, like the warmth in his chest will remain, even after a long time. It’s comforting, and Tobio doesn’t even think he could possibly find the right words. He misses those nights, when things were simpler. It’s been so long, but Tobio still misses Kazuyo-san. Maybe he always will.

“Thanks,” Tobio manages to say after a moment, swallowing thickly. He’s got his heart in his hands, and he’s unsure of where to put it. “I really...I really appreciate it,” he tells Hinata, and he fills it with all the sincerity he can muster.

“No problem,” Hinata says with a grin, picking the music box up, fingers steady and careful as he places it back inside Tobio’s paper bag and handing it over. “It’s good to hear a nice song every now and then.”

“How much do I…?”

Hinata shakes his head. “This one’s on me,” he says, pointing to himself with his thumb, his smile growing even wider. “Consider it an exchange for teaching me how to make a rain cloud.”

Tobio frowns. “But you haven’t even made one yet. At least let me pay half—”

“Nope!” Hinata says, all too cheery for someone refusing to be paid. “Maybe I haven’t managed to make one yet, but I’m one step closer than I was an hour ago.”

“That doesn’t seem very fair,” Tobio says. Hinata had given him a discount last time too, if he remembers right. He doesn’t want to be taking advantage of Hinata’s generosity.

Hinata hums. “Well, if you really want to, I guess think of it this way: you keep helping me figure out the spell, and we’ll call it even.”

Tobio still doesn’t think it’s exactly fair—it’s a fairly simple spell, and he does have a feeling Hinata is more than capable—but the way Hinata is looking at him tells him that he isn’t going to budge any time soon. Sighing in defeat, he nods, and Hinata beams. “Okay,” he says, shrugging his shoulders. “If you’re sure it’s okay with you. I’m still willing to pay.”

Hinata waves a hand dismissively. “It’s fine, Kageyama. Don’t worry about it.”

Another burst of silence settles over them this time, except Tobio isn’t really sure what to do now. He’d gotten what he came for, and he’d come over just like Hinata had asked him to, but he doesn’t really have a reason to stay anymore. Maybe he’s even spent too much time here already, and Hinata is just too polite to leave. Horrified at the thought, Tobio figures that he’s over welcomed his stay, and his break should be over soon anyway, so he really ought to get going.

“I should head back,” he blurts out suddenly, and Hinata startles a little from where he’d been looking at the snapdragon. “My, uh—my break should be ending soon, and they’ll probably be looking for me. So, um, thanks—thanks for this again.”

He’s just about to turn around and leave, ready to duck over the floating stack of papers when he hears the thumping of footsteps, and then Hinata is by his side within the next instant, looking up at Tobio with a cheeky grin.

“I’ll walk with you,” he says, and Tobio blinks. But before he can even respond, Hinata is pushing the door open and flipping the sign. He lets Tobio walk through first, the windchimes jingling above their heads like a goodbye, and Tobio watches as Hinata flips the sign over. _Back in a spell!_ , it reads, with the drawing of a little pumpkin on the front, decorated by tiny little stars at the sides.

“So I was wondering,” Hinata says, and it really isn’t much of a walk, not when the bakery is right next door, but Hinata doesn’t seem to care about that at all. “What do you think about cats?”

“Cats?”

Hinata nods. “Cats,” he repeats, an expectant look to his face, as though he hadn’t just hit Tobio with a completely random question. “I think I like them, but I’ve never really had a pet before, so I can’t be _too_ sure, you know? I’m pretty good with most animals, though, I think. What about you?”

“Oh,” Tobio says. Then he winces a little, remembering how he’d tried to pet a cat once when he was younger, and just ended up getting scratched on the face. “I don’t think they like me very much,” he tells Hinata as he pushes the door to the bakery open, letting him step through first. Fortunately, the bakery isn’t very full right now, and Sugawara is manning the counter, waving at them as they enter. “I think it would be nice to have one as a pet, but I’ve never really—I noticed that most animals don’t like me, so I never tried.”

Hinata frowns. “You can’t know that for sure,” he says, and it’s almost like he’s actually upset at the idea of animals not liking Tobio. “Maybe they just need some time to warm up to you. Some animals are like that.”

Tobio raises an eyebrow, and gestures over to the side. “Peanut still doesn’t like me, and we’ve known each other for two weeks now.”

Hinata’s lips crack into a smile. The guinea pig in question looks up as though she’d known she was being talked about, staring up at Tobio from where she’d been eating. Hinata doesn’t waste another moment before he’s walking up to her cage, coaxing her out and picking her up to carry her in his arms.

“Kageyama tells me you don’t like him,” he says to her, his voice going all round and bubbly. Tobio rolls his eyes. “Is that true? It isn’t, is it? Kageyama-kun over here’s just being dramatic.”

“I am _not_ ,” Tobio says back almost immediately, huffing and crossing his arms. He sees Hinata’s lips twitch, like he’s trying not to laugh. “She _hates_ me. I was the one who got blamed when those crackers went missing, and it wasn’t even me! It was her! She’s _evil_.”

Hinata gasps. “You take that back! Peanut is nothing but a _sweetheart,_ ” he says, looking a little offended. He cradles the guinea pig closer to his chest. “I’m sorry you had to hear that, Peanut. Kageyama clearly doesn’t know what he’s talking about.”

Tobio rolls his eyes again. “I can’t believe you’re siding with the _guinea pig_.”

Hinata snickers, and he gently lowers Peanut back into her cage, where she continues to munch on her food. When he turns to look back at Tobio, he’s smiling again, clearly amused. He always seems to have a reason to be smiling, Tobio thinks, and he wonders just how simple and easy it is for him.

“Why’d you even ask about cats in the first place?” Tobio asks him, raising an eyebrow.

Hinata shrugs. “No reason, really,” he says simply. “It just popped up in my head, so I thought I’d ask what you thought. And would you look at that, now I know one more thing about you!” He grins, placing his hands on his hips, looking completely pleased with himself. “And you know one more thing about me too, obviously.”

“I—yeah,” Tobio says lamely, struggling to come up with something better to say. But how can he, when he feels like his throat has just closed up? He coughs. “That’s cool, I guess.”

Hinata remains undeterred. “Yup!” he exclaims. He looks like he’s just about to say something else, but the clock at the corner chimes loudly, the signal of an hour, and his attention is brought to it. He looks back at Tobio with an apologetic expression. “Ah, I gotta go. I’m supposed to meet a customer for a scheduled appointment, and well, I—”

“Don’t want to keep them waiting,” Tobio finishes for him, nodding. Hinata hums in agreement, breathing out a nervous laugh. While Tobio does feel a little disappointed that his time with Hinata’s over for now, he’s mostly just glad that he’d had the courage to go over to the spell shop in the first place. Being around Hinata is nice, Tobio decides. It’s confusing and weird and nerve-wracking, but it’s also...really nice. It’s familiar. And that’s what people do when they find something familiar, don’t they? They try to hold onto it, even just for a while. Tobio’s not sure where this is going to go, but at this moment all he knows is that he’d like to be around Hinata more.

“Yeah,” Hinata says, and Tobio thinks he sees a flash of disappointment in his eyes too—but it’s gone before he can be certain, and Hinata is back to wearing a smile again in an instant. “I’ll see you later then, Kageyama,” he says, holding up his hands like finger guns. _Cute,_ Tobio thinks as he nods stiffly, strangely feeling like he _had_ actually been shot through the heart. He brings up a hand to wave, if to just give his hands something to do, and Hinata laughs softly.

With a little wave of his own, he turns around and heads towards the door, exiting the shop and leaving Tobio to stand alone. Trying to get his thoughts back in order, he walks toward the counter, taking his apron back from the side and putting it on. He steps behind the register, tapping his fingers against the wood absentmindedly.

Suga is there within a second, nudging him with an elbow, and _here it comes_ , Tobio thinks to himself mournfully. He resists the urge to groan at the knowing look on Suga’s face, and Tobio’s already half-sure that the older man’s got him all figured out, even without those Seer abilities of his. Getting through this requires a miracle, or maybe even some divine intervention. Tobio will take anything, really, if it keeps Suga from smirking like he _knows_.

“So,” Suga says, his voice right on the edge of teasing, and Tobio is already dreading the next words that will come out of his mouth. He isn’t the psychic one between the two of them, but he can already tell it’ll be hell. “You and Hinata seem to be getting along pretty well.”

Tobio looks away, afraid he might just give it all away. He doesn’t really know what _it_ is, exactly, but it’s bound to be something embarrassing for sure. “I guess,” he says, barely even audible, but Suga seems to hear it well enough, his smile only growing bigger.

Suga takes a step closer, curious. “Well, would you say he’s interesting?”

“I mean, he’s a little strange—”

“Interesting to look at, I mean.”

Tobio flushes, his face growing hot almost instantly. “No—not like—not like that!” he says, hating the way the heat creeps on his skin. He can’t tell Suga the truth, obviously, that he’d damn well found Hinata _interesting_ the moment he’d first looked at him, because that would just be downright _mortifying_ , and Suga would never let him live it down.

Suga just laughs, light-hearted and easy. “I’m kidding, I’m kidding,” he says, patting Tobio on the shoulder. “But you like him, don’t you?”

“I don’t—”

“Sorry, I didn’t mean it like that,” Suga clarifies quickly. “I mean, as a friend. I figured you both could use a little company, that’s all.”

Tobio blinks. He doesn’t really know what he’s supposed to say to that, so he just looks away again, averting his gaze to focus on the tiled floor beneath his feet. It’s so shiny he thinks he can almost see his own reflection.

“He’s...something, that’s for sure,” Tobio says after a moment, still feeling a little embarrassed. He thinks about Hinata’s lack of specialty, but the practiced way he uses the other kinds of magic. He remembers the concentrated look on his face when he’d tried to summon that cloud, and the determination that was written all over his features. “That’s all I can really say.”

Suga grins. “That’s enough for me,” he says.

Tobio thinks that the conversation’s finally over, slumping his shoulders, but just as he’s about to sigh in relief, Suga looks at him one more time, on his way to deliver an empty tray to the backroom. He’s got a mischievous glint in his eyes, and Tobio’s learned not to trust the sort of smile he’s wearing now, especially not after that one brownie incident.

“By the way,” Suga says, taking slow, measured steps past Tobio, “Hinata’s birthday is in a couple of days. You should probably get him something. He’s a big fan of cream puffs. I’m sure he’d like some of those.”

Then he’s gone, closing the backroom door behind him. Tobio’s left to stand outside behind the counter, his head still spinning with everything Suga had just said. He lets the words sink in, taking them into consideration. Hinata’s birthday… Should Tobio do something? Suga had mentioned cream puffs, but Tobio’s never been that good at baking. But then again, he _had_ said that Hinata liked them, and Tobio wanted Hinata to like _him_ —and there really isn’t any harm in trying, is there? He could probably try going for it, right? It can’t be that hard. Tsukishima makes them all the time.

Tobio can manage a few cream puffs, can’t he?

* * *

It turns out horribly.

Well, it started out fine at first, really. It had seemed to be going well, and Tobio had managed to find a recipe that didn’t seem too complicated. (He’d had to borrow a cookbook from the library down the street because there was no way he was asking _Tsukishima_ for help on something like this.) He’d gotten a good handle on things, and everything was going smoothly. Truthfully, it was going a lot better than he had expected, and he’d sighed in relief when they’d turned out pretty okay after putting them in the oven. He’d had to improvise a spell since he didn’t have the right ingredients for this one other charm he was supposed to put to make them fluffier—but nothing too bad seemed to happen afterwards, so it must’ve worked out fine. Tobio hadn’t really worried about it, and to be honest, he’d been a little—okay, maybe a lot—proud of himself for being able to do it. Now Tsukishima couldn’t say anything about him being unable to bake.

Suga had mentioned the actual date of Hinata’s birthday not long after he first told Tobio, so on the morning of the twenty-first, Tobio had summoned the courage to head over to the spell shop and drop it off. Unfortunately, Hinata wasn’t there, much to Tobio’s disappointment, but Yachi was—she came by the bakery too sometimes, and she seemed very nice—and she’d grinned when Tobio had told her who the box was for. Thankfully, she didn’t say anything else aside from promising that she’d make sure Hinata received it, and Tobio thanked her, hurrying out of the shop in case he managed to find another to embarrass himself.

Which leads him to where he is now, standing behind the register, anxiously wondering if Hinata had gotten his gift. He wasn’t even sure if Hinata would be in today—it _is_ his birthday after all, and Tobio can’t blame him for wanting a day-off, maybe to spend time with his family—but from the stories he told he and Yachi had seemed close, and Tobio felt like he could trust her well enough to give it to him. The look she gave him, however, while sweet and kind, somehow gave him the feeling she knew something he didn’t, but Tobio’s probably just being paranoid.

It’s nothing really special, the cream puffs. Tobio had tried one of them and they tasted alright. Thinking about it, Hinata does seem like the kind of guy with a sweet tooth, so he’s probably had better ones before, and he might not even like them, and _oh god_ —

“That was a terrible idea,” Tobio blurts out, the horrifying realization just about to sink into his bones. If Hinata likes cream puffs as Suga says he does, then it’s near certain that he’s tried a lot of them before. Tobio’s even more sure that his cream puffs aren’t _that_ good—he’d done what he could, and most of it was probably because of luck—so he really wouldn’t be able to fault Hinata turned out to hate them. But Tobio hopes he won’t. He really hopes he won’t.

“What are you talking about?” Suga says, looking up from where he’d been wiping one of the tables. He places a hand on his hip, confused for a moment, before the realization hits him, and a smile grows on his face. “ _Oh_ ,” he says, and Tobio groans, burying his head in his hands.

“This is your fault,” he mumbles out, but it’s loud enough for Suga to hear, and he chuckles, clearly amused by Tobio’s situation. Tobio doesn’t appreciate it one bit. “If you hadn’t told me anything, then I wouldn’t be worrying about this right now.”

“Well, instead you’d be worrying what to get him before the day ends, wouldn’t you?” Suga counters, and Tobio only groans again, leaning against the counter to let hide his face in his arms a little more properly. He can’t even say that Suga is wrong—Tobio’s never been much for birthdays, but he does want to leave a good impression—because he’d probably be frantic right now trying to figure something out if he hadn’t come prepared with the stupid cream puffs. “And lift your chin up, Kageyama! What’s so bad about your gift anyway?”

“Suga-san, you know I can’t bake,” Tobio says, not moving an inch. “Why’d you tell me to get him cream puffs?”

Suga hums. “I never said you had to _bake_ them,” he says teasingly, and Tobio snaps his head up to shoot him a look. “You could’ve just bought them from somewhere. Pay Tsukishima to make some for you.”

Tobio scoffs. “I’d rather die,” he deadpans.

Suga laughs, light and breezy like a windchime. “Well, I suppose baking yourself was an even better idea. Love is all about the effort you put in, you know.”

Tobio flushes, the warmth rushing to his face in an instant. “What—who said anything about _love_?”

He just waves a hand in dismissal, ignoring Tobio’s questioning look. “Ah, never mind,” he says, and Tobio only squints at him in suspicion. This isn’t—there’s no love here. None. Nope. Nothing at all. Tobio just wants to be _friends_ , and maybe sometimes he does find Hinata cute, but it doesn’t mean _anything._ (Though he will admit, if Hinata were to ask to try, Tobio isn’t quite sure he’d say no.) “Ignore me, I’m getting ahead of myself,” Suga continues, his smile settling back to something warmer. “So tell me, what exactly about this was a bad idea?”

Tobio still suspects that something’s up, but he also has a feeling he’s better off not knowing. He throws his hands up in exasperation, and gives Suga a flat look. “They probably taste like shit,” he says, straight and direct to the point. “They might be the worst thing he’s ever tasted, and then he’ll never speak to me again.”

“Kageyama, I’m sure you’ve figured out by now that Hinata isn’t that kind of person,” Suga tells him kindly, his tone filled with reassurance. And Tobio supposes that he _is_ right—he’d been able to see Hinata a couple more times after he’d fixed Tobio’s music box, and Hinata’s been nothing but nice, if a little teasing at times. Just the other day, he’d come over all the way to the bakery just to tell Tobio that he can hold the cloud’s form for twenty seconds straight now. He’d looked so happy and excited, breathless from the run, his eyes actually _sparkling_ , and Tobio thought that it was absolutely _adorable_.

“I know,” Tobio says, pressing his palm against his cheek, squishing them together. “Maybe that’s the worst part.”

Logically, Tobio knows that he shouldn’t even be freaking out about this. It’s just a birthday gift, after all, and friends gave each other gifts all the time. It was basically harmless, but still a part of him wouldn’t stop worrying if it was the right move. Hinata wouldn’t think it was too forward of him, would he? Tobio knows he can be a bit too much sometimes, and he knows how he can be at times. He just wants to get this right, and nothing has ever been trickier for him than interacting with other people.

“You tasted them before you gave them to him, didn’t you?” Suga asks, raising an eyebrow. When Tobio nods in confirmation, he continues, “Then it should be fine, shouldn’t it? As long as it’s edible, and won’t poison him, then it’ll be just fine.”

Tobio knits his eyebrows together, an undercurrent of worry beginning to take shape underneath his skin. “You can’t poison someone with cream puffs...can you?”

Suga shakes his head. “I’ve never heard of a case before, no,” he replies, scrunching up his face in thought. Tobio slumps in relief. Then Suga looks back at Tobio again, looking a little uncertain, “You did follow a recipe, right?”

Tobio nods. “Yeah,” he answers, twirling one of the straws around his fingers. “Had to replace one of the spells, though, since I didn’t have, um, puffing powder.”

Suga looks back at him with a curious expression. “What did you replace it with? Puffing powder’s pretty hard to get, so a substitute would be nice. Plus, Tsukishima always complains about how it’s a tricky one to work with because of the measurements.”

Tobio shrugs, trying to remember. “I think,” he says, replaying the process in his head like a film reel. “Oh, I think it was an expanding charm. Like the kind they use on balloons.”

Suga’s face turns to one of concern. “Uh, and how strong was the charm you used, exactly?”

He blinks. “I’m not really sure? Enough to make them seem like a good size?” he offers, bending the straw in his fingers. “I wasn’t really paying attention. Why?”

“Oh, it’s probably nothing, but, well, you see,” Suga says, and it makes Tobio’s a little more worried, because Suga looks the slightest bit _nervous_ now, but he doesn’t understand why. “There’s a reason why they put very specific measurements for puffing powder. It’s because if you put too much, or if you use something else without being careful, well, the cream puffs might actually—”

_BANG!_

The door slams open just then, startling both of them. They both turn their attention to the doorway, and surprise fills Tobio when he sees who it is.

It’s Hinata, and Tobio’s stomach fills with dread the moment he realizes why he’s here, connecting what Suga had been trying to say.

Because Hinata is standing there, his face covered in bits and pieces of cream puffs, splattered right across his cheeks and forehead, the cream dripping down his neck and shirt.

“Explode,” Tobio says weakly, his mouth feeling very dry. “The cream puffs _explode_.”

_“Kageyama!”_

Hinata doesn’t hesitate another moment, walking right up to the counter where Tobio is and slamming his hands down, the objects on the table shaking slightly with the force of it. He narrows his eyes, his breath coming out quick and short from his run here, and Tobio swallows, his heart in his throat. This is exactly what he’d been afraid of, and oh god, he messed up, he messed up _so bad_ , and Hinata probably hates him now, _despises_ him, and he’s gonna tell Tobio to never speak to him again, because it’s his _birthday_ and Tobio ruined it, and it’s all those stupid cream puffs’ fault—

Hinata _grins_.

Tobio stares.

He grins, and it’s sharp and deadly, the kind that’s lined with mischief and something wild, and there’s a glint in his eye that Tobio’s never seen before. It lights something up in him, a feeling Tobio has yet to give a name. “Oh, you’re _on,_ Kageyama Tobio,” Hinata says, a wicked look in his eyes, and Tobio doesn’t understand what the _hell’s_ happening at all. “Two can play at that game. You’re not the only one with tricks.”

Then before Tobio can even blink, much less _reply,_ Hinata is turning around to leave the store, a faint trail of cream falling to the ground as he goes. He can really only stare as Hinata goes, walking on the other side of the glass window, and disappearing from sight in just a matter of seconds.

“What the fuck,” he whispers to himself, incredulous. He snaps his head up to look at Suga. “What the _fuck_?”

Suga only bursts out in laughter, swiftly crossing the room in a few steps, leaning an arm against the table. He smirks, and looks at Tobio with an expression that makes him even more nervous. “Well, you heard the guy,” he says, throwing a towel over his shoulder. “The game’s on.”

Tobio shakes his head, completely confused. “What _game_?”

* * *

The game, Tobio learns, is a competition.

A weird one, he’ll admit, but he’s never been the type to back down from a fight, never mind whoever was standing on the other side. Truthfully, Tobio doesn’t even know if there’ll be a winner to all of this, or if there’s some sort stupid prize waiting for him at the end. But he’s in for it now, and he doubts that Hinata plans on calling quits first. And since he thinks Tobio started it, then he might as well work towards finishing it.

Tobio’s never liked to lose to begin with. And this, of course, is no exception.

At least that’s what he tells himself, his frown deepening as he concentrates on working on his latest project—a snowcloud made specifically for a certain ginger, designed to follow Hinata around for sixteen hours, dropping bits of snowflakes on him no matter where he goes. Daichi had walked in on Tobio crafting it in the break room, muttering spells to himself as he tried to remember the right ones. He’d shot Tobio a concerned look, and reminded him not to take things too far. Tobio had nodded absentmindedly, too focused at the task at hand to truly consider his words.

And it’s not like this was _too far,_ really. It was an annoyance at the least and a bother at most, and though Tobio had enchanted it well enough to deflect against most deactivation spells until the time limit was up, he had a feeling that Hinata would be able to find a way to dispel it if he truly wanted to. That’s what the special shop was for anyway, wasn’t it? And it’s not like it could actually harm Hinata so it should be fine.

And anyway, compared to what Hinata’s done—Tobio swears this isn’t even that bad.

Last week, Hinata had sent a flower pot to the bakery. It was beautiful, really, shone just like the sunset at golden hour. Except the only problem is that it wouldn’t stop _screaming,_ a high-pitched wailing sound that came from the center of the petals. And not only that, but when Tobio had turned to Suga to ask about how to stop it, he’d looked back at Tobio with a confused expression, saying he couldn’t hear anything at all. Then it had clicked within him that of _course_ Hinata would send a stupid plant that wouldn’t stop screaming, but he also made sure that only Tobio could hear it. Of _course._

So naturally, it’s only right that Tobio gets back at him for it.

Finishing up the last spell, Tobio puts his hands back down to admire his work. The little snowcloud floats a good few feet above the air to level with his chest, glowing with the blue of his magic. Tobio swipes a hand under it, and it begins to snow, raining tiny little snowflakes right from under it. Smiling in satisfaction, Tobio picks up the empty jar from the table and summons it to move inside, closing the lid once it’s all inside. All that’s left now is to deliver it.

Luckily for Tobio, he knows that Yachi’s about to come around any minute now for her usual order of coffee and milk bread, and he can ask her to hand it over to Hinata for him. That way Hinata won’t suspect a thing, and Tobio will be able to get away with it.

Exiting the back room, Tobio sees that he’s just in time, the door jingling open as Yachi enters, a gentle smile on her face. Her skirt is lit up with pinks and purples today, decorated with shining little stars, and her blouse is adorned with crystals. She floats a few inches off of the ground, heading right for the counter with practiced movements.

“Good afternoon, Kageyama,” she says chirpily, and Tobio does his best to give her a smile. She’d looked a little afraid of him the first time they’d met, to be honest, but she seems to be used to him by now. Tobio suspects that it’s got to do with whatever silly or embarrassing story Hinata’s told her about him—not that there’s a lot, but Hinata’s scarily good at guessing stuff like that—but he hopes that it’s just because she doesn’t think he’s scary anymore. Yachi is nice, and Tobio would rather be on her good side than none at all.

“Hi,” he says simply, his heart beginning to pick up when he eyes the jar he’d kept close by on the counter. The cloud swirls like cotton candy inside the glass, cold to the touch. It’s only supposed to work on Hinata, so Yachi should be fine even if it’s opened with her present. “Coffee and milk bread, I’m guessing?”

She smiles. “Exactly,” she says, picking her wallet out from her pocket.

Nodding, Tobio takes a loaf of bread from the shelf, slipping it into a bag. Tsukishima had already prepared them earlier in anticipation for Yachi’s visit—milk bread’s pretty popular these days—and he starts working on preparing her coffee. It doesn’t take too long, and he’s back with her in a matter of minutes, sliding the cup toward her over the counter, and handing her the bag of bread.

“Thank you,” she tells him, placing the right amount of Finches on the table. Tobio accepts, placing them into the register.

“Hey, um,” Tobio says, his voice coming out a little more shaky than he’d like. He coughs, telling himself to sound more casual, as he picks up the jar from the side, trying not to wince at the low temperature. “Do you mind giving this to Hinata? But don’t tell him that it’s from me. Is that okay?”

Yachi stares at him for a moment, as though searching his face for answers. Then she raises an eyebrow, taking a sip of her coffee and scrunching up her nose when she finds it’s too hot. “This is part of that weird competition you two have going on, isn’t it?”

Tobio flushes at being caught red-handed, averting his eyes. “No comment.”

She sighs, sounding both exasperated and fond, like seems already so used to Hinata’s antics. Shaking her head, she almost looks a little amused even. “Fine, I’ll give it to him for you. I won’t tell him it’s you either, but I’m sure he’ll figure it out.”

Tobio cracks a tiny smile. “That’s the plan.”

She nods, and takes the jar. Fortunately, she doesn’t seem too bothered with the cold, tucking it underneath her arm for safekeeping. “Alright. I’ll see you again soon, Kageyama,” she says, offering him one last time. “Good luck with your…whatever this is,” she tells him, and Tobio nods gratefully.

“Thanks,” he says genuinely, and she leaves, taking the little jar with her.

Tobio drums his fingers on the table, wondering how Hinata will react to this one. A couple days back, Tobio had anonymously sent the spell shop an old clock that he just knew Hinata wouldn’t be able to resist fixing, except he’d enchanted it so when the clock struck 9:10am, it would chime and summon a few pixies into the shop. Later that day, when Hinata had come by the bakery to buy his usual cinnamon rolls, he’d looked disheveled and breathless from trying to catch the pixies all over his shop, and Tobio hadn’t been able to stop himself from laughing, even with the deadly glare Hinata had sent his way.

Hinata had retaliated the very next day by sending that stupid screaming plant, so Tobio thinks they’re pretty even for that level.

It’s fun in a way, this game of theirs. Tobio’s irritated half the time when the joke’s on him, but there’s also the smug satisfaction he receives when Hinata falls for his tricks. And as strange as it is, Tobio thinks it’s nice that they’ve got something like this to keep them going, no matter how ridiculous it seems. It _is_ getting more and more difficult to think of schemes, though, but as Tobio said before, there’s no way he’s going to be first to give up.

The only thing he can do now is wait, and Tobio’s gotten kind of good at that sort of thing anyway.

Hinata comes around a couple hours later, and Tobio presses his lips to a thin line when he sees him, trying to keep himself from smirking. He watches the strange looks Hinata gets when people notice the cloud above his head, the snow slowly floating down towards his head. He’s even got a green scarf on, and his nose is just the lightest shade of pink. There are snowflakes in his hair and eyelashes, and Tobio tries not to focus too hard on the shadows that they make on his cheeks, the way winter looks on a boy of the sun.

“Kageyama,” Hinata says once he approaches the counter. “You do realize it’s summer, don’t you?”

Tobio bites the inside of his cheek. “Oh, I’m well aware,” he says, glancing over at the window, where the summer heat makes waves on the pavement, shimmering right above into the air. “I was just about to ask if _you_ knew that, with the scarf and all.”

“Ass,” Hinata huffs, rolling his eyes. But Tobio catches the way the edges of his lips curve upwards ever so slightly, the beginnings of a smile. “I’m freezing now, thanks to you.”

Tobio feigns ignorance. “I haven’t the slightest idea what you’re talking about. Maybe you can ask Suga-san to help you?”

“Stupid,” Hinata says, and then there it is—a light laugh finally breaks through just as he shoves Tobio’s shoulder, pushing him slightly back. Tobio dodges in time when Hinata tries at it again, stepping far enough to the side to avoid. He cracks a smile of his own, unable to help himself. “So how long is this gonna last, huh? I already tried asking Yachi and Yamaguchi for help, but none of their charms worked.”

Tobio shrugs. “Sixteen hours,” he answers simply. “Should be around your sixth hour by now, shouldn’t it?”

Hinata hums in agreement. “Well, I guess you win this one. What’s that, eight wins and six losses for me?”

“Yeah,” Tobio says, running the numbers through his head. The last few weeks have been very eventful, to say the least. He thinks about the numbers Hinata had just mentioned, and wonders if they’re supposed to end somewhere. What if they just went on forever? What would it mean for him to ask something like that? To assume it? “I’ll catch up to you in no time.”

Hinata scoffs, leaning back and crossing his arms. “I’m sure you will,” he replies sarcastically, the smile not once leaving his lips. Tobio works very hard not to be distracted by the way the afternoon light hits his face, igniting the freckles like man made constellations, his hair a wayward comet looking for the right way home.

“You’ll see,” Tobio says back, holding out with all the confidence he can muster. If there’s anything he can be certain of, it’s his magic, and when it comes to things like these, Tobio’s almost sure that he’s got it in the bag. It is strange, though, that Hinata’s been giving him a run for his money, despite not seeming to have the same experience that Tobio does. He manages to keep pace, even when they’re both so different. Maybe that’s what makes this even more fun, Tobio thinks. The way Hinata keeps things interesting.

Hinata just smirks, a competitive fire in his eyes, and says, “I’m looking forward to it.”

* * *

Six days later, Hinata comes barging into the bakery one more time, slamming the doors open and catching everyone’s attention.

He storms right up to Tobio, and the situation has turned familiar enough by now that Tobio already half-knows what to expect, a reply beginning to form on his lips before Hinata even begins to speak.

“You’re joking,” Hinata says in lieu of a greeting, irritation written all over his face.

“Good afternoon to you too,” Tobio says back simply, pretending to be preoccupied with wiping the counter, picking the paper cups to stack them up properly.

“You’re making things _shrink,_ ” Hinata hisses, throwing his hands up in the air. “Are you _kidding_ me?”

Tobio shrugs, not even bothering to look up. In all honesty, he’d thought Hinata would take a few more days to notice—he’d set up the charm three days ago—but he supposes he’d underestimated just how sharp Hinata could be, and how well he knew his shop. “I don’t understand what you mean.”

Hinata scoffs, squinting his eyes and crossing his arms. He places both of his palms on the table, and leans forward enough that Tobio is forced to take a step back from the proximity. Hinata remains undeterred though, looking directly right up at Tobio. “You think it’s funny, don’t you?” Hinata says, scowling. “You thought that I wouldn’t notice! But I did! I see right through you!”

Tobio raises an eyebrow, finally looking up to meet his eyes. “You said things were shrinking,” he says slowly. Tobio tries hard not to smile. “Are you sure you’re not just growing bigger?”

“Why, you—” Hinata says, taking another step to swipe at Tobio. He dodges in time—the action almost practiced at this point with the amount of times they’ve both tried to hit each other—taking a couple more steps back. Hinata remains dissatisfied, and resorts to clapping his hands together. Tobio feels a jolt run down his skin almost a second later, and he yelps, jumping in surprise. The hairs on his arms stand on edge, and he looks at Hinata with wild eyes.

“The hell was that for?” Tobio asks him, rubbing down his arms, and Hinata barks out a laugh, all his annoyance seemingly forgotten already. “And since when could you do _electro magic?”_

Hinata just smirks, taking a step back, the line of his mouth sharp. “No specialty, remember?” he replies, holding up a hand. Between the space of two of his fingers, he creates an orange charge, before snapping his fingers and causing it to disappear. Tobio can create charges of his own, of course, by generating his own lightning, but electro magic was a little different from that—it was its own special type, and he’d always been in awe of it. “There’s a lot of stuff you don’t know about me yet.”

“Hm,” Tobio grunts, frowning a little. It makes him wonder just what else Hinata is capable of. And what then, if he did want to know Hinata more? “How’s that raincloud going, by the way? Got it down yet?”

Hinata lights up almost immediately. Then he claps his hands together one more time, and before him a small cloud appears. It’s much more solid this time, Tobio notices, surrounded by the orange glow of his magic. “Ta-da!” he says, sounding immensely proud. He dissolves it by waving a hand over. “I got a couple of raindrops to fall down yesterday, too! Slow progress, I know, but I’ll get there in no time.”

Tobio nods. “It looks...good,” he says honestly. “Yeah. It’s looking good so far.”

“Really?” Hinata says, genuinely sounding surprised, and Tobio furrows his eyebrows in confusion. He’d seemed so proud of it earlier, so why is it like he hadn’t expected Tobio to acknowledge it? Hinata has skill, Tobio knows, and it’s only right that he gets the right amount of attention for it. “You think so?”

Tobio nods. He thinks he might just be imagining it—a trick of the light, maybe—but a slight pink blooms over Hinata’s cheeks, a little like the way it settles over the sky at sundown, and Tobio memorizes it, marking it like a map to a garden.

“Thanks,” Hinata says, his smile soft, and it makes Tobio inhale sharply at just how gentle it is, to know that it’s directed right at him. Hinata leans across the counter once more, propping an elbow up on it. He’s lucky that there aren’t any customers behind him right now—it’s been a bit of a slow day, so Tobio’s honestly a little thrilled to have Hinata here to keep him company—and it’s the only reason they’re able to talk over here to begin with. He thinks it might even be the highlight of his day, seeing Hinata.

“So,” Hinata says, almost amused, “back to the shrinking thing.”

Tobio shakes his head. “Still don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Oh, come on!” Hinata complains, and he reaches over to pull at Tobio’s ear—but once more Tobio’s quick to move out of the way. “Just dispel it already! Do you know how hard it is to read the books when the words keep getting tinier?”

“You’re the one with a _spell shop_ ,” Tobio tells him pointedly. “You should be able to figure it out, shouldn’t you?”

Hinata groans, and he lets his head fall to the counter, his chin against the hardwood. “ _Kageyamaaaaaa,”_ Hinata whines, and he looks up at Kageyama with a pout. “Kageyama, come _ooooon_. Even Noya-san couldn’t figure it out when I asked him, and he’s _amazing_ at reverse spells. Even my plants are getting smaller! How did you even do that?”

Tobio snickers. “Well, I can’t tell you that,” he says, glancing over at Hinata in amusement.

“Ha!” Hinata says suddenly, picking himself back up. “So you admit that you did it!”

Tobio bristles. “Oi, I never said that—”

He’s interrupted by the sudden opening of the door, the bell chiming overhead to signal him. Tobio gives Hinata a glare, before he tries to compose himself, neutralizing his expression to serve whoever’s just come in. Tobio registers Hinata moving over to the side to coo at Peanut, and he hopes that this won’t take too long, already thinking about what to say to Hinata as he raises his head to look up and see who—

Tobio freezes.

 _Shit,_ he thinks.

Tobio watches in horror as Kindaichi and Kunimi walk into the bakery, both dressed up casually as they enter with a conversation shared between them. He swears that he feels his heart drop to his stomach, filling him up with dread and panic, his skin turning cold. Any minute now they’ll see him, and he’ll have to _talk_ to them—

His pulse thunders in his ears and he busies his hands with that stupid little stress ball from the drawer, his mind already beginning to race with a possible scenarios, and it’s all _wrong wrong wrong,_ because this shouldn’t be happening at all. Tobio hasn’t seen them since the day he left, and he’d honestly thought that he’d never have to. Maybe it was a little foolish for him to think so, but he’d _hoped_ for it at the least, and this had been one of the things he wished to never happen.

It’s almost funny, really, the way Kunimi’s eyes widen by a fraction when he sees Tobio standing behind the counter. He bumps his elbow against Kindaichi’s arm, gestures over to the other end of the bakery until he spots Tobio too, the surprise and shock blooming all over his features. Tobio’s stomach sinks even further, and he braces himself for it. Squaring up his shoulders, the only way to get through it is to actually deal with it, and as awful as he imagines it’ll be, it can’t be any worse than the day of the incident.

They approach the counter slowly, their trays filled with an assortment of bread and pastries. Tobio takes a deep breath and prepares himself, setting the ball down.

“Kageyama.” Kindaichi is the first to speak, his voice cautious. An awkward air fills the spaces in between them, strong enough that it almost feels palpable. “It’s been a while.”

Tobio nods stiffly. He forces himself to look at them, if just to prove that he can. It’s an understatement to say that they hadn’t exactly ended on the best terms, and sometimes it feels like it had all just happened yesterday. It’s hard not to think of it when he sees advertisements and news about the Coven almost all the time, but Tobio had thought he was starting to do a good job of swallowing it all down.

But looking at the two of them now—it feels a little like opening an old wound, and Tobio’s not quite sure where to stand.

“We didn’t know you worked here,” Kunimi says, always one for bluntness, looking at a Tobio with an expression that made it seem he could care less about him at all.

“We didn’t hear anything about you after what happened, really,” Kindaichi says, but it doesn’t really seem like an invitation to share. Not that Tobio would, anyway. “And no one seems to have seen you since, either.”

Tobio tries to keep his expression steady. “Well, you’ve found me. Here I am.”

Kindaichi hums, contemplative, as though he’s thinking about _before_. “Don’t get me wrong, it’s not anything I think you didn’t deserve,” he says after a moment, and Tobio bristles, gritting his teeth, and squeezing the ball tightly in his hand. _Here it comes,_ he thinks to himself. For every best part of the day there must first be a worst part, and this, he supposes, couldn’t be any more of a perfect fit. “You _were_ too reckless that day, and the days leading up to that too, and it was really unreasonable, what you asked of us. You know that, right?”

Tobio stays quiet.

“But I guess that’s what happens when you’re a prodigy, huh?” Kindaichi continues, the residue of bitterness remaining on his tongue still, and honestly, Tobio can’t blame him for that. It still leaves him angry to think about what happened, frustrated and disappointed and—afraid. It scares him, even after all this time. For all the time that _a while_ might mean, it surely hasn’t been long enough. “You expect everyone to keep up with you, even when it’s damn near impossible. And then you get angry when it doesn’t work out the way you wanted.”

Tobio averts his eyes. Instead, he focuses on piling the things they’d bought into proper boxes, trying not to let it show just how shaky he feels. Deep down, Tobio _knows_ it was his fault. He knows it, _of course he does_. He’d fucked up, and he’d paid the price for it. He was _stupid_ , and he was careless, and maybe Kindaichi is right—maybe he did deserve it. But hearing it out loud, hearing it said by someone else after so long, it makes it feel even more real. The words hang in the air but there isn’t anything Tobio can do to tear them down.

“You get it now, don’t you?” Kindaichi says, his words sharp and cutting. “You were _selfish._ ”

He grabs the money Kunimi had laid out on the counter—no change, thankfully—and puts it into the register, shutting it closed with more force than necessary. He holds out the bag towards them, filled with what they’d come to buy.

“Here,” Tobio says, focusing on the scratch on the table. It’s shaped a little like a cat, if he squints. “Thanks for buying.”

“What?” Kindaichi taunts, raising an eyebrow. “Got nothing to say? You always liked to complain before.”

Tobio scowls. “You can leave now,” he says through gritted teeth. “You don’t need to be here any longer than you have to.”

Kindaichi smirks. “Funny to see just how far the mighty have fallen,” he comments, taking the bag from Tobio. “Where’s your crown now, King? Don’t tell me you lost it—”

“ _Shut up,”_ Tobio snaps loudly, cutting him off. He glares at Kindaichi, giving him the deadliest one he’s got. “Just fucking—just leave. You bought your stuff, so _leave.”_

Neither of them give any indication of leaving, and Tobio digs his nails into his palms even further, clenching his fists until his knuckles turn white. He wishes that they would just leave, and that he could go home, and then he could just pretend none of this ever happened.

“Aw, but we’re just catching up with you—”

“He asked you to leave,” a new voice interrupts, and Tobio turns his head to see Hinata standing there. His expression is hard and stony, looking straight at Kindaichi and Kunimi. Something about it chills Tobio down to his very bones, unsettling and eerie—and he realizes that this just might be the first time he’s seen Hinata with this kind of look on his face, completely serious without room for anything else. Not a single hint of a smile on his lips. It’s a little scary.

Kindaichi and Kunimi both look a little surprised at Hinata’s interruption, but perhaps they sense the magic within him too or just think he works at the bakery, because whatever retort that found itself on Kindaichi’s lips escapes him, and he nods curtly. Kunimi begins to turn around, shoving his hands inside his pockets, his posture slightly slouched.

Kindaichi opens his mouth, as though to say one more thing—and for a moment, Tobio thinks he might even look apologetic—but then he closes it, and turns around to follow Kunimi out the door.

The moment they’re out of sight, Tobio feels the tension loosen from his body, and he slumps his shoulders, collapsing forward onto the counter. The sting of Kindaichi’s words hasn’t quite left— _king_ is something he hadn’t been called in a while, but it digs deeper than anything else does. Picking up the ball again, Tobio squeezes it, hard enough that it starts to deflate a little. He lets out a breath, still feeling wrong all over, his edges too sharp and broad, clunky and chipped off, but it’s not like this is anything he hasn’t done before. He’ll pick himself back up and put the pieces back together. It’s been so long since he fit together perfectly, but Tobio’s learned to work with what he has.

“Hey,” Hinata says, approaching Tobio slowly, his tone gentle and careful, and Tobio thinks that he’s the soft edges to Tobio’s harder ones. Sky eyes and summer smile, he is everything Tobio is not, a patchwork towards something magically beautiful, but the only thing Tobio knows are loose threads. “You okay?”

Tobio feels heat creep up on his skin, embarrassed that Hinata had to see that whole thing, and even more so that Hinata had felt the need to step in. While Tobio does appreciate it, Hinata really didn’t have to.

“Sorry,” Tobio mumbles out, not quite meeting Hinata’s eyes. He bites the inside of his cheek. “You didn’t have to do that, but uh—thanks. For that. It helped.”

“It’s no problem,” Hinata says kindly, slightly rocking back and forth on his heels, his hands gripping the edge of the counter. “You don’t have to say if you don’t want to, but—who were those guys? They seemed pretty mean.”

Tobio hesitates. On one hand, he kind of did owe Hinata an explanation, since he did help out, but on the other… Tobio doesn’t know how to say it without explaining everything else, and he really likes where he and Hinata are now. He doesn’t want to mess that up by telling him what happened, and then Hinata will realize how selfish and horrible he can be. He’ll never wanna speak to Tobio again, and Tobio… Tobio doesn’t want that to happen.

“It’s okay if you don’t want to,” Hinata repeats quickly, but Tobio finds the curiosity laced on his features, despite how well Hinata had tried to hide it. Tobio never really spoke about himself before, not when Hinata was always there to pick up the silence and shape it into something better, and he’s always been content with listening. Hinata never really seemed to mind, either, but it had been a little too naive for Tobio to not notice his curiosity. He didn’t think he was a very interesting person, but Hinata liked asking him questions, and in the rare moments that Tobio had spoken of himself, Hinata always seemed to be interested. Tobio isn’t good with words, but Hinata somehow always seems to understand him perfectly.

Maybe—maybe it would be okay. Maybe Hinata would understand. And it’s not like he was asking for Tobio’s whole life story—just about the three of them. Perhaps the rest could follow with time, but this is all Hinata’s asking for now. He’s not asking for any more than what Tobio can give him.

He lets out a deep breath, and lets his hands drop onto the table, rolling the ball around in his hands. “Kindaichi Yuutarou and Kunimi Akira,” Tobio says quietly, once more thankful for the lack of customers in the bakery at that moment. “They’re from the King’s Coven. We...we had an— _argument_ a few months back, and it sort of—well, it’s one of the reasons why I ended up here. And I can’t say I blame them for hating me because, well, because I wasn’t—I wasn’t exactly the greatest, either.”

Tobio looks over at Hinata, watching for how he’ll react. He doesn’t really know he’s expecting, to be honest—more curiosity, maybe? A hint of disgust? Confusion? Hinata’s a little unpredictable sometimes, and Tobio doesn’t really know him that well to make any proper guesses.

There’s a couple of moments before Hinata speaks, and anxiety fills up every inch of Tobio’s being, waiting to hear what he has to say.

“He called you ‘King,’” Hinata says, looking right at Tobio with an unreadable expression. “Because of what happened at the Coven? Am I right?”

Tobio averts his gaze, and picks at the edge of the table, tracing a line along the corner. “Yeah,” he answers after a beat, holding his breath. “It was—it stands for selfish king,” Tobio adds, sounding far smaller than he’d like. “For being too oppressive and demanding.”

“Hm,” Hinata says, a short hum under his breath. Tobio can’t bring himself to look Hinata’s way—too ashamed, afraid of what he’d find. He wonders what Hinata thinks of him now that he’s heard a little bit of it, if it aligns with what he knows of the person standing in front of him now. That Tobio is more than just the guy who works at the bakery next door, and had somehow stumbled into his life by accidentally turning his face blue. What does he think now that he’s learned of the other things?

“Okay. I’ve got a confession to make,” Hinata says suddenly, and Tobio snaps his head up to look at him. Hinata rubs the back of his neck, looking quite sheepish. “I owe you an apology.”

“Huh?” asks Tobio, confused. His mind races, trying to think of one single thing that Hinata could possibly feel the need to apologize for—disregarding, of course, all the pranks they’d pulled on each other the last few weeks—but he comes up short. He can’t think of a single one.

“When I first met you,” Hinata says slowly, looking a little ways off from where Tobio’s eyes are. “I thought you were...interesting. A little weird, and it turns out you’re really stubborn and kind of an ass sometimes, but overall pretty okay. So I thought to myself that maybe it wouldn’t be too bad, if we became friends. Because you seemed nice, and you didn’t seem too bothered by me, and it was kinda funny watching you complain about my snapdragon.”

Tobio frowns a little. He’s not really sure where this is going.

“But I guess—I guess I was also kind of waiting for the other shoe to drop, you know? Like I said, I thought you were nice, and I was hoping I was right. I wanted to be right. I wanted to see that you weren’t like what people said,” Hinata says. “But I think the thing about rumors is that they’re a little hard to shake off once you’ve heard them, you know? So I kept waiting to see what would happen, or if I’d overstep a line somewhere and you’d finally snap. But you haven’t. You never do.” He wrings his fingers together, and manages a weak smile. “And after what just happened, the way you were acting… Well, I just wanted to say I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have doubted you like that. It wasn’t fair.”

“Oh,” Tobio says, unable to find better words. He blinks, once, twice, still processing all the things that Hinata had just said. “Wait,” he says suddenly, his mind coming to a halt. “Rumors…? What do you mean? You know who I am?”

Hinata smiles, light and teasing. “The youngest witch to ever get recruited into the King’s Coven?” he confirms, tone a little playful as he props an arm up on the counter to look up at Tobio with a grin. “Yeah, I know who you are, Kageyama Tobio.”

Tobio’s eyes widen, bewildered. “But you never said anything!”

“Would it have mattered if I did?” Hinata says back, tilting his head slightly to the side.

Tobio falls silent. This whole time…? Hinata had known about him all this time—meaning he never really had anything to be afraid of, did he? If Hinata had heard the rumors, then it can be assumed that he’d heard the terrible bits of it too, and understands why Tobio’s reputation is the worst it’s ever been. And yet he’d stuck around, hadn’t he? He thought Tobio was _nice_ , that he was _interesting_ —and the problem here then is that all Tobio’s ever known is that people leave, once they know how he really is. And yet here Hinata is, standing right in front of him and smiling like it never mattered for a second what kind of mistakes and scars Tobio carried within him. Like it still doesn’t, even when he’d seen the aftermath unfold right in front of him.

Does it really matter then, if this is where they’ve found themselves anyway?

Tobio presses his lips together. “What kind of…” he says slowly, slightly hesitant. “What kind of rumors?” He runs a finger over the vase to his right, feeling a little petulant. He knows what kind of rumors people have said about him, and none of them have been particularly good.

“Oh,” Hinata says, and his mouth twists into a frown. “That you’re a bad-tempered, arrogant, and egotistical jerk that’s terrible working with others.”

Tobio flinches. He’d known it, of course, but it doesn’t really make it sting any less.

“But anyway,” Hinata says brightly, rocking back and forth on his heels once more, “it’s like I said. Aside from your general weirdness and terrible social skills, I think you’re pretty okay!” He grins. “Even if you did make cream puffs explode on my face on my birthday _.”_

Tobio rolls his eyes, and lets his hands fall back down to his sides. He’s not really sure where to go from here, or if there’s even something to make of it. To be honest, at this point Tobio doesn’t know a lot of things. It kinda feels like he’s been stuck in some strange limbo, counting the days like the clouds in the sky, unsure all the time of what he’s doing is right. And these last few days, with the game and the tricks, it had felt like he’d been pulled in a direction, at least. Maybe not close to the ground just yet, but it’s a start for somewhere.

“Hey, Kageyama,” Hinata says, and his voice is soft again, careful, like he’s approaching something uncertain. “I heard about—I heard about what happened that day, with the new building. I guess it was kind of hard not to, when everyone was talking about it, but if it’s okay...I’d like what you think.”

Tobio looks over at Hinata. It’s not something he likes to think about, much less _talk_ about. But Hinata is honest, and he’s genuine, and it doesn’t seem like he’s about to ridicule Tobio for any of his choices. And in some way, Tobio thinks he _understands_. He’s not sure how, but it’s a feeling and it’s there, and Tobio’s long since learned to be careful about where to put his trust.

And the thing about Hinata, Tobio realizes, is that he thinks it’ll be safe with him.

He takes a deep breath, sharp against his throat, and steels himself as he searches for the right words. “I…” he starts to say, picking up the memories from where he’d left them. “I wasn’t… It was an accident. They were supposed to… I thought that they would—”

Hinata puts a hand over Tobio’s, squeezing it gently in reassurance. “You don’t have to,” he says softly.

Tobio shakes his head. “It’s okay,” he says, voice a little strained. He’s just never spoken about it before, and there’s always a first time for everything, isn’t there? “I want to tell you,” he adds, and he really does mean it.

“In the Coven,” he continues to say, wringing his hands together. He keeps his gaze trained on them, his head down. “When there’s emergencies or when you’re out for commissions, sometimes they send you out in teams, especially for the bigger jobs. The more people, the better, right? And since my magic was pretty compatible with Kindaichi and Kunimi, we were sent out together a lot. But I...I’ve never really been good at working with other people.” He fumbles with his thumbs. “I just—I had my own way of doing things. I _liked_ the way I did things. But they...they had their own way too, and I think it just became too much.”

He bites the inside of his cheek. “The job that day—we were sent to help out with the construction of that new skyscraper. It was going well, and I thought that we could get by without any problems. I’m _good_ at magic. I didn’t think anything could go wrong.” He clenches his fists, and sucks in another sharp breath. “But then something—something broke, and then people were falling and screaming, and I wanted to summon windcurrents to cushion their fall, but that would take some time to generate, so I told Kindaichi to _be there_ to help, and I knew we could pull it off. I knew we could, if he was just a little faster, but he didn’t _listen_ , and he said it wouldn’t work. So I tried to do it on my own, but there was _no one there_ , and it was just—it was so _close_. It was too close.”

“Hey, no one get hurt, remember?” Hinata says, and Tobio inhales, nodding stiffly. “No one got hurt, either. It worked out.”

“But the damage…” Tobio says, wincing at the memory of it. He remembers standing in the rubble and the debris, staining his skin and clothes. He remembers the scrapes on his arms and elbows, and the way Kindaichi had glared at him. He remembers hanging his head low as the Elders spoke to him, discussing the repercussions. It wasn’t Tobio’s first incident—he’d been a little reckless a couple times before—and they’d decided that this was his last strike. He hasn’t been back since. “It was far too much. I got kicked out, and it turns out it’s pretty hard to find a job when everyone’s heard you have a shitty personality.” Tobio tries for a weak, humorless smile. “I was just lucky that Daichi and Suga didn’t seem to mind.”

When Tobio finally looks up to look at Hinata, he expects to find pity written all over his features. Or maybe he’d finally see that everyone else was right, now that he knows what’s happened, that Tobio is reckless and selfish and he deserved what he got.

But that’s not what he finds at all.

Instead, Hinata is looking right at him, traces of blazen determination on his face, eyebrows knitted together. He’s staring at Tobio with something he can’t comprehend, something indescribable he hasn’t seen before. He wonders if there’s a name for it.

“You don’t have a shitty personality,” Hinata says, his words clear and set, like he isn’t making room for anything else. “And you’re not—I don’t think you were wrong for trying, not when you really thought you could make it.” He looks at Tobio head-on, his eyes flashing with something a little close to anger, fierce and bright, eyes turning to fire in the afternoon sunlight. “So what if you’re selfish? What if you’re oppressive? If I don’t wanna listen to what you’re saying, then I won’t.”

He smiles a little, a glint in his eyes. “Being a King doesn’t have to be a bad thing.”

Tobio blinks, at a loss of words to say. He hadn’t expected that at all. Hinata snaps his fingers together, and Tobio feels something plop right on his forehead. He brings up his hand to reach out and see what it is, and he’s met with a sturdy, rough thing. Picking it up, Tobio finds that it’s a crown, made of flowers and leaves all connected together.

“What…?” Tobio asks, looking at Hinata in confusion.

“It’s your crown!” Hinata says with a cheeky grin. “I’m a little rusty when it comes to bending metal, and I’m much better when it comes to plants, so I figured it’d be easier to make you one out of flowers.”

“Oh,” Tobio says, and he feels the blush that threatens to creep up his neck at the gesture. Hinata is—he’s _too much_. He’s silly and endearing and weird. He makes Tobio feel like he’s about to burst and explode into a million tiny golden pieces, burnt by sunbeams after staying in the shadows for far too long. “I—thanks. For, um, for listening. It—it means a lot.”

Hinata smiles. “Hm. Stop my things from shrinking and we’ll call it even.”

Tobio rolls his eyes. “Deal,” he says. “I can come by later to reverse it?”

“You better,” Hinata says, his smile sharp and teasing. Tobio nods, secretly happy that he’s got a good excuse to come by the spell shop. As messy and wild as it is, he does enjoy being there a bit, mostly because it feels like there’s always something new to discover with how many things there are inside. And of course, he likes being there when Hinata is too. He’s still trying to wrap his head around the fact that Hinata’s “So far, thirteen wins and fourteen losses for me.”

“Yeah,” Tobio agrees, pleased to be in the lead. And just like that, it’s like all the rest of the tension melts away, and they’re back to how they were earlier.

“Oh, that reminds me!” Hinata says a little later, after Tobio goes to serve a new customer that had come in. “I was thinking, and I was wondering if you wanted to hang out this weekend.”

Tobio nearly drops the cup of hot chocolate he’d prepared. “What?”

Hinata turns a little pink. “Well, I was just—I thought it would be fun, if we went out and did something together! You know, since we’re friends and all, we could meet up somewhere and hang out—”

“Wait,” Tobio says. “We’re...friends?”

Hinata looks at him with amusement. “Of course we are, dummy,” he says, but not unkindly. “We’ve been friends for a while now, in case you haven’t noticed.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah!” Hinata says with a light smile. “So what do you think? It doesn’t need to be anything big. We could just go to the park, or get some ice cream. My friend just opened this new shop, and Yachi told me it was pretty good. Or we can do whatever you want. What do you say?”

Tobio blinks, and he swears his heart is doing those silly little star jumps again, the way it starts to stutter and trip whenever Hinata’s being like this—so wonderfully honest and kind, like every word that comes out of his mouth is made of something genuine and sincere. An existence that’s so warm and surreal that Tobio’s tongue learns of new constellations just by being around him. “Okay,” he says, feeling a little weak and thrilled and _nervous_ all at once. “Yeah, sure, let’s—let’s do that.”

“Really?” Hinata exclaims, eyes lit up like the sunrise.

Tobio nods. “Yeah.”

“That’s great!” he says, bouncing on his toes. “It’ll be fun, I promise!”

Tobio hums in agreement. He’s not entirely sure what he’s gotten himself into, but what he does know is that he likes spending with Hinata. In just a few short weeks he’s managed to catch Tobio’s attention far longer than anything else non-magical has, and to be honest, thinking about that too much scares him. He doesn’t want to assume things, or take things too far, but thinking about the chance that Hinata might like being around him too makes his stomach squirm and his heart race. It makes him _nervous_ , but Tobio wishes it weren’t so. He feels his cheeks already beginning to warm with the prospect of spending time with Hinata outside of their jobs, and he tries to swallow it down. Trying to find a way to steady his hands, he picks up the ball again, and spins it on the tip of his finger.

Hinata notices immediately, his eyes widening. “That’s so cool!” he says as the ball starts to slow down, and Tobio catches it with his other hand before it falls. “You’re not using any magic, are you? How are you doing that?”

Tobio blinks. He hadn’t thought that anyone else would find that cool. Something warm and pleasant grows in his stomach. “No, I’m not,” he answers, trying to spin the ball one more time. He’d just learned this to keep himself entertained; it was never something to show-off.

“Let me try,” Hinata says, and Tobio hands the ball over to him, looking at him with careful eyes.

And watching Hinata try, his determination great even for something so mundane, it makes Tobio feel something strange inside. Hinata laughs at himself when he doesn’t get it right, and it’s not before long that Tobio’s cracking a smile as Hinata attempts to spin the ball for a tenth time, rolling his eyes at the sheer ridiculousness of it. They spend the rest of the afternoon that way, poking and teasing and making fun of each other. Even when Tobio heads over to the spell shop they’re still bickering, arguing over milk flavors and manga characters, and _this_ —this, Tobio realizes, in the middle of trying to steal one of cookies Hinata had bought, is what it might mean to have a _friend_.

* * *

“Kageyama! Kageyama, over here!”

Tobio looks up from where he’d been standing, and finds Hinata a couple of feet away from him, waving a hand in the air. He runs up to Tobio, a little breathless and clearly excited, his face flushed slightly from the exertion. He doesn’t usually wear a uniform at work so it’s not too odd to see him in such casual clothes, but it does feel a little weird to see him outside of either of the shops. It makes it feel a bit more real, maybe.

“Hey,” Hinata says with a toothy grin. “Finally lost the apron, huh?”

Tobio rolls his eyes, and kicks himself off of the wall he’d been leaning against, taking his hands out of his pocket. “You’ve seen me without it before,” he points out, raising an eyebrow.

Hinata laughs, and like this, with them standing outside underneath the afternoon sun, Tobio swears that the heavens must see it too, must understand the way it’s almost like the whole world slows down whenever Hinata is around. “Yeah, but this is different,” he tells Tobio as they begin to walk along the sidewalk, mindful of the scattering of the left-over magic from the day before. “Now I can say for sure you’re a real person outside of the bakery.”

Tobio snorts. “I’ve always been a real person, dumbass.”

“Well, yeah, _now_ I know that,” Hinata says, like he’s making an obvious point, and Tobio rolls his eyes again. “You know, I was kinda expecting you to show up in, like, a tracksuit or something.”

“Why would I be wearing a tracksuit if we’re going to eat ice cream?” Tobio asks as they hit a stoplight, and they wait for the flame to turn back into red. “And why a tracksuit?”

“I dunno,” Hinata says, shrugging his shoulders. He offers Tobio an amused smile, mirth flashing in his eyes. “I thought it’d be funny. Plus, you definitely seem like the type to wear the same kind of clothes every day.”

Tobio aims at him, trying to swipe at his head, but Hinata’s reflexes are quick enough to dodge it. So instead, Tobio decides to use Hinata’s own trick against him—snapping his fingers and zapping Hinata with a small charge, enough to make all of Hinata’s hair poof up. Hinata yelps the moment he feels it, and Tobio tries not to laugh when he sees how ridiculous Hinata looks with his hair all like that. Hinata shoves him lightly, but a laugh is bubbling right out of his lips, and he tries to flatten down his hair.

“Your hair looks so dumb right now,” Tobio tells him with a snicker, and Hinata just rolls his eyes, a smile loose on his lips. Before Tobio can even react, Hinata moves in a flash—jumping up on his toes to ruffle up Tobio’s hair, his fringe even coming to block his eyes. “ _Oi—”_

“There,” Hinata says, clapping his hands together as he smirks in satisfaction. “Now we match!”

“You mean now we look stupid together,” Tobio deadpans.

Hinata only beams. “Exactly!”

Tobio shakes his head, and tries to form his hair back to something a little less frazzled. He doesn’t care much for his appearance most of the time, but he _had_ tried to look nice today at least.

They walk a little further until they make it to the ice cream parlor, and Hinata starts running the moment he sees it. Tobio has to pick up his pace to catch up with him, twisting and turning around people to avoid bumping into them. The shop is close to the heart of the city, and with the weekend upon them, it’s not much of a wonder as to why it’s so busy. Tobio’s just thankful that he hadn’t lost sight of Hinata, his gaze catching on his wild mess of hair, brighter than the sun itself.

“We’re here!” Hinata says, throwing his hands up in the air to gesture to the store in front of them. It looks fairly new, the white walls clean and pristine, with bright, golden colors decorating the sides. A large neon sign hangs above them, the shop’s name in big and bold letters. When they step inside, Tobio finds that it’s filled with more people than he had imagined—teenagers, kids, and families—but not too busy that all the seats are full. The interior is bursting with even more color, filled to the brim with it, the shimmer of magic traces all over, and Tobio looks at it all in awe.

“ _Gwahh,_ ” Hinata says, his eyes filled with wonder in amazement. Tobio thinks he looks cute, his eyes shining just like a little kid, but he keeps that to himself, turning away the moment he feels the heat rise to his cheeks. “It’s so nice in here!” He turns to Tobio, catching Tobio’s wrist and pulling him further into the shop. “Come on, let’s go look at the flavors!”

There’s a whole lot of them, the menu is filled with different listings, and Tobio can’t even begin to fathom all the ingredients they must have to produce so many. Tobio’s always been a pretty simple guy, though, so he figures that he’ll probably pick out something milk-flavored. But then Hinata huffs next to him, and Tobio looks over in concern.

“I can’t decide if I’m gonna get the Strawberry Gumdrop with the caramel topping,” he says, his hand under his chin as he glances over at Tobio, looking for his opinion. “Or the Chocolate FunTime Bonanza. What do you think?”

“Um,” Tobio says, ever so eloquent. “What are you leaning more towards?”

“That’s the problem!” Hinata says, sounding a little frustrated. He frowns, scratching the back of his neck. It’s a little funny to see Hinata so serious about ice cream flavors. “They both look _so good_ , I don’t know which one! Hmmmmm.”

Tobio shrugs. “I can get the Strawberry Gumdrop, and you can get the Chocolate Bonanza one. That way you can try both,” he tells Hinata. “And if you end up liking the other one more, we can just switch.”

Hinata blinks. “Wait, really?” he asks, surprised. “But don’t you wanna get something you like?”

He just shrugs again. “I was probably just gonna get something simple, anyway,” he tells Hinata. “Might as well try something new. I don’t really mind.”

“Oh,” Hinata says, nodding slowly. “Well, if you’re sure…”

Tobio hums. “Yeah. It’s fine.”

“Okay,” Hinata says with a soft smile. “Thanks.”

“No problem,” Tobio answers back. He can’t really handle Hinata looking at him like _that_ , all wide-eyed and happy, so he averts his gaze, coughing into his hand. Taking a couple of steps, they head on over to the cashier.

“Bokuto-san!” Hinata says the moment they approach, smiling widely. He jumps in the air in excitement, high enough that Tobio wonders if Hinata’s got a knack for levitation too. He wouldn’t really be surprised if he did. “This place is amazing!”

Bokuto, a wild-looking man with golden eyes and spiky white-black hair, laughs loudly, his eyes twinkling with something bright and grand. “Hinata, you came!” he exclaims, placing his hands on his hips. “Glad to hear you like the place,” he says with a grin. “Keiji took care of most of the designing, of course, but I helped a lot too! Have you met Owlbert?”

Tobio looks over to where Bokuto points to a perch at the left side of the room, where a large owl sits at the top, feathers white and brown. Something about it tells Tobio that it isn’t any regular owl about it, though—maybe a familiar? He remembers Peanut back at the bakery, and wonders if it’s a trend these days to have some strange animal as a pet in your store.

“He’s beautiful!” Hinata says, quick to praise, waving a hand up in the air. Curiously enough, the owl seems to respond, holding up a wing in the air. “That’s so cool, Bokuto-san!”

Bokuto beams, pride written all over his face. He leans forward, and twirls the spoon in his hand, flipping it over in the air. “So what’ll you have today?”

“Strawberry Gumdrop with caramel and Chocolate Funtime Bonanza!” Hinata answers cheerfully. Tobio watches as he starts to dig his wallet out of his pocket, but before Tobio can even say anything, Hinata shoots him a stern look, and says, “Nope. This one’s on me.”

“But—”

“Nuh-uh,” Hinata cuts him off. “You’re already offered up your flavor choice, so it’s only fair.”

Tobio frowns. He’s smart enough to know that Hinata can be just as stubborn as he is, and that it’s probably a losing game to argue. “Fine,” he says, conceding. “But next time, it’s on me.”

Hinata seems to light up at Tobio’s words, nodding vehemently. “Sure!” he says cheerily.

It takes Tobio a moment to realize that he’d implied that there would be _next time_.

His face flushes almost immediately, and he looks away, not wanting to get caught.

After a couple of moments, their ice creams are finally ready. Bokuto had done some cool tricks to keep them entertained—Tobio couldn’t quite figure out what his specialty was, but it was enchanting, and Tobio appreciates skill when he sees it—and they were handed their ice creams not too long after.

“Here you go,” Bokuto says, holding their cups out to them. Tobio takes the strawberry one, his mouth beginning to water with how delicious it looks, and he hears Hinata gasp next to him, clearly feeling the same.

“Thank you!” Hinata tells him, and Tobio bows a little, grateful.

“Hope you kids enjoy it,” Bokuto says with a wink. “I gotta go check on the back, but I hope to see you guys again soon. Have fun with the rest of your date!”

Tobio’s eyes widen, but Bokuto’s gone before he can even register his words properly, and the words come out half-formed, “We’re not—” he tries to say, but there’s no point to it now.

He looks over at Hinata, who just hands him a cheeky grin, breathing out a laugh, his cheeks tinted with the slightest shade of pink.

Tobio hurriedly looks away, feeling awkward, and coughs into his hand. “Oh, right,” he says, looking back down at his ice cream. He holds it out for Hinata. “You can try it first,” he says, not really looking at him just yet. “So you can pick which one you like better.”

“Oh,” Hinata says, almost like he’s just snapped back into the situation too. Taking his spoon, he scoops out a little portion of the strawberry ice cream, and tastes it. “Hmm,” he says, nodding to himself. “This is really good!”

“And the other one?”

Hinata scoops out the chocolate ice cream. “This one’s really good too!”

Tobio gives him an amused look. “But which one do you like more, dumbass?”

Hinata pauses, contemplating. It’s terribly cute, in Tobio’s opinion. “The chocolate one,” he says after a moment, before nodding, sure of his decision. “Yep, the chocolate one. It was a really close one, though.”

“I’m sure it was,” Tobio says, and Hinata shoves him playfully, bumping their arms against each other as a light smile plays on his lips. Exiting the shop, they’re both met with the in-between weather of the seasons, standing at the bridge between summer and autumn, where the wind is cool on their feet but warm on their shoulders, indecisive as it transitions over.

They cross over the road and into a park at the center of the city, filled with small hills and towering trees, slow-swaying colorful flowers that dot the green-silver grass. Tiny fairies flit around the flowers, leaving a bit of magic on their wake, a shimmer in the air. The gardeners flick their hands and the flowers bloom, bending water around them and dissolving the rest onto the air. Magic at work, simple and beautiful all at once.

The two of them walk along the path, and Hinata rambles on about the flowers and the plants, listing their names and properties right off the top of his head. Tobio doesn’t understand how he could possibly remember so much at once, or how he does it, so he just listens, paying attention to Hinata’s words and stories. He’s mesmerized by the sound of Hinata’s voice, the way it lightens right before a laugh, enchanted by the fire glint in his eyes that lights up at the notion of something exciting. Hinata tells him of his adventures to get tricky plants, about how Yamaguchi had laughed when he’d gotten himself all covered in slime and goo after a nasty incident with a marshland flora. Hinata tells stories like he’s been doing them his whole life—and maybe he has, with the way he speaks of his little sister, an abundance of tales about her that gush with pride. Tobio listens to him, trying to memorize every little detail like he’s saving it for later. He’d been right from the very first day, to think that Hinata was interesting—in ways more than just his magic. And when Tobio talks, Hinata turns quiet to listen, though most of the time they just end up bickering, until _dumbass_ falls off of Tobio’s lips like a childhood nickname, and it’s almost like they’ve been doing this for much longer, walking side by side with the rest of the world tucked behind them.

“—and that’s how I learned to never trust gobblewonkers,” Hinata finishes, gesturing with his spoon, his ice cream cup still half-full with how much he’s been talking. “You never know what you’re gonna get with them. A headache, most likely.”

“They do seem a little tricky,” Tobio says in agreement. He smirks. “Though I doubt it was that hard to outsmart you. Maybe all they needed was their common sense.”

“What—hey!” Hinata says, offended, and he pushes against Tobio’s arm, causing him to stumble a bit off of the path and onto the grass. He feels the ends of his lips twitch upwards into a smile. “Rude, Bakageyama. That was just uncalled for.”

“Mhm,” Tobio says, a placid hum against his throat. He takes another bite of his ice cream, most of it just a liquid puddle right now. Snapping his fingers, he summons a little snowcloud, much like the one he’d sent Hinata, and makes it blow a cold gust against his ice cream, freezing it a little back up. He gestures at it to do the same for Hinata, who nods in thanks.

“Hey,” Hinata says after a while, just after another of his stories about his friend from the bookstore a couple of shops down the bakery, some guy who liked video games and had a penchant for potion-making. “Hey, Kageyama.”

“Yeah?”

“Tell me more about the Coven,” Hinata says, his spoon stuck in his mouth. “What was it like?”

“Why do you want to know?” asks Tobio curiously.

Hinata points over to a billboard a little ways outside of the park, big enough for both of them to see. It’s that stupid Oikawa ad again, and Tobio’s hit with a slight pang in his chest. The urge to shoot it down is gone, and he doesn’t feel as bitter as before, but a bit of the bitterness is still there, an undercurrent running beneath his skin.

“Why’d you like it there so much?” Hinata asks him, tilting his head curiously. “You know, aside from the fact that it paid well. What’s it got that you can’t find anywhere else?”

Tobio looks up to the sky for a moment, watching the gentle movement of the clouds above their heads, and thinks about what it felt like, back then to have magic all around him constantly. To hold it in his hands like it was palpable, unrestrained and marvelous. To be around people he thought was a little like him too, and how he’d thought that no wrong could happen as long as he stuck his feet into the ground and kept _trying_. How Kazuyo-san had been part of the Coven, and how Tobio told himself he wanted it too, because maybe then it would let him feel a little closer to him. How at one point, he hadn’t noticed when it stopped being about having fun and doing magic just for the hell of it, and started being a competition to be the best. To prove his worth just so that he could stay.

“The Coven,” Tobio begins to say, his voice quiet. “It’s got everything you could ever ask for. The books, the materials, the resources—they have everything you could ever need to learn magic. They train you, they teach you, and they test you.” He doesn’t take his eyes off of that distant sky. “And I… The people there, they all wanted the same thing I did. They wanted magic. They wanted to grow. They wanted more.”

Tobio looks over at Hinata, and lets a weak smile rise to his lips. “I just wanted a place to belong,” he says, his voice small. “I thought I could find that there. I thought that it was where I wanted to be.”

“And is it still?” Hinata asks. “Is still where you want to be?”

Tobio shrugs. “I don’t know,” he confesses, wondering where the sudden honesty is coming from. It feels a little weird, talking about this while a cup of ice cream melts in his hand, but at least the cold is a vague comfort. “I spent so long working to get in, and when I was in it… I don’t know. It was good for a while, but maybe—maybe I should’ve seen it coming.”

Tobio glances back at that billboard, tracing the insignia with his eyes. “It’s a good place, and there’s a reason for its reputation,” he says. “But maybe it just wasn’t meant for someone like me.”

“What if I helped you then?” Hinata says suddenly, looking back at Tobio with that odd look on his face again. “What if I helped you find it? A place to belong?”

“I—” Tobio falters, pressing his mouth closed. “You don’t have to do that,” he says after a moment. “It’s not—it’s not something you should bother yourself with.”

“But what if I want to?” he counters back easily. “If that’s what you want, I can help you find it, if you’ll let me.”

Tobio opens his mouth to reply, to argue and say something along the lines of _you don’t need to_ , or _you don’t want to, not really_ , because that’s just what happens, isn’t it? This is what happens, and when people stick around, all it gives them is more of a reason to leave later on. Hinata doesn’t understand—maybe the ice cream is getting to his head, because it doesn’t make sense for him to ask, for him to want to help, not when it’s such a bother. He doesn’t owe Tobio anything—there’s no reason for him to care as much as he does.

“You don’t know what you’re saying,” Tobio says, voice coming out small, and he wonders if he’s overreacting, if he’s making too big of a deal out of it. It’s not like Hinata had asked for something grand—he’d just offered to help. But to call it generous would be an understatement at this point, not after what he’s seen and what he’s heard. He must know that something like this is not to be taken lightly.

“Yes, I do,” Hinata insists. “That’s why I’m asking.”

“Why,” is all Tobio can manage to say, feeling as though he’s lost all the air in his lungs. “Why do you—why do you care so much? All of this, what is it for? Why are you so nice to me?”

Hinata doesn’t look away for a second, his gaze trained right on Tobio’s, and he meets him right there in the middle. A dawn breaking and an ocean storming, one certain and the other afraid.

“Because I want to know you better,” Hinata says, as simple as that. “Because you looked like you could use a friend. So here I am.”

“But that’s still no reason for you to—” Tobio says, the words coming out wrong and clunky on his tongue. They’re not the right ones. He restarts, “You don’t—you won’t like it, knowing me too much.”

“You can’t be sure of that,” Hinata says, clearly undeterred by Tobio’s words. “And the only way to see if you’re right is to try, isn’t it?”

“It doesn’t work like that—”

“Let me try,” Hinata says, a smile playing on his lips just like a flare off of the sun. “Let me get to know you. Let me know your heart, and I’ll let you know mine.”

Tobio swallows. It doesn’t seem like Hinata is leaving much room for argument, though Tobio doesn’t really know what he’d say even if he were. Is there a response for something like that? Is there a right thing to say? Where have all his words gone?

Here is the problem: Tobio knows he isn’t easy to get along with. It’s surprising that Hinata had even tried to stick around this long, had even bothered with the rest—but there’s bound to be a line somewhere. And one day, Tobio will cross it, and then it’ll be over. Despite the closeness they’ve built from scratch, despite the familiarity they’ve grown, there’s still a lot they don’t know about each other. And though they are learning slowly, Tobio doesn’t really know how long something like this is supposed to last. He’s inexperienced and clumsy and he doesn’t know if he’s doing things right. Maybe he never will, and that scares him.

But the thing is— _but the thing is,_ Tobio wants to try. He wants to know Hinata the same way he is asking to know Tobio. And would it really be so bad, to give it a go? Hinata’s already heard the worst of him, and while Tobio can’t make any promises, it must stand for something. It must say something that Hinata had still invited him out despite what he’d learned, and he hadn’t pitied Tobio for it. It must mean that Hinata likes Tobio for himself, even with all that had come with it. And this thing, what they have so far, Tobio knows it’s delicate. It’s fragile and vulnerable and he doesn’t want to lose something that could be beautiful so soon. He wants to try.

And perhaps worst of all, is that Tobio thinks that if he were to give his heart, Hinata would treat it tenderly. He would take care of it.

And what kind of person would he be to say no to that?

“Okay,” Tobio says after a moment. “Okay.”

“Really?” Hinata says, looking a little surprised. He takes a step closer to Tobio, looking a little unsure. “You’ll let me?”

“Only if you let me do the same,” Tobio says, toeing at the ground, the rocks crumbling underneath his shoe. “So it’s equal.”

“Got it,” Hinata says. He smiles, the kind that’s soft and gentle and genuine, and it does all sorts of funny things to Tobio’s chest, a quick beating right against his chest, the escape artist he calls a heart held back.

“So what now?” Tobio asks him. His ice cream’s all melted already, and it doesn’t take him too long to finish it, throwing out into the bin as they walk past it. They stop by a small pond, where ducks swim peacefully across the water’s surface. Tobio can see his own reflection on it, and even Hinata’s, who’s got his head tilted toward him. Tobio looks up to find Hinata looking at him, something strange in his expression. “Is there anything else you want to do?”

“Huh?” Hinata asks, blinking his eyes rapidly as he gets back into focus. “Oh, I dunno. I kinda just wanted to try the ice cream and hang out with you, so I’m good for pretty much anything you want to do.”

“Oh,” Tobio says. He looks around, but the park is pretty big, and there isn’t much to do. He thinks he remembers seeing some stores and a market close to the Gates when he walked by earlier, so maybe they could find something to do. “We could just walk around?” Tobio offers. “And then just see where it takes us? If that’s okay with you.”

“Yeah!” Hinata agrees, nodding eagerly.

It’s easy to slip back into a more comfortable conversation after that. Tobio tells Hinata about Miwa—who’s shocked to hear that he has a sister, saying _Kageyama, stupid, why didn’t you tell me?_ —and how she’s a hair stylist who specializes in electro magic, so it’s pretty close to what he can do. And Tobio wonders if he really should feel this at ease with someone, if it’s truly possible for him to feel this way, but then Hinata laughs at a stupid joke he’d made, and it’s like a bit of his fear melts away, like everything in the world has righted itself, if only for a moment. With Hinata, Tobio forgets all about the Coven and his mistakes, focusing instead on how to win their argument on whether it’s possible to use an icicle as a weapon or not. It’s strange and thrilling and scary and wonderful all at once, and it’s only later, when Tobio finds himself entering his apartment with a light feeling in his chest and a warmth all around him, that he finds the right word to describe this feeling.

It’s magical.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> next chapter will be up soon!
> 
> you can find me on [tumblr!](https://superish.tumblr.com) thank you for reading!! <3


	3. all my days i'll know your face

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nobody’s ever asked Tobio to stay before.

Hinata Shouyou, Tobio learns quickly, is a forest fire.

It’s not that he hadn’t known it already, but after the conversation they had when they went out for ice cream, it seems to grow more evident. Hinata spreads around Tobio’s days like a wildfire, burning brilliant and bright with every glance and touch he sends Tobio’s way turning him aflame. Tobio sees him on most days now, either when he heads over or when Hinata does, waving through the window before he even steps foot inside the establishment. They’d called a truce on their competition, putting it on pause for a moment. Tobio had been in the lead by two points so he was pretty pleased with himself, but he also has a feeling that it won’t be long before it starts right up again. To be honest, he’s even looking forward to it, and this time any exploding pastries won’t be accidental. He hadn’t expected to be able to see Hinata so often without the incentive of beating one another, but it’s not like he’s going to complain. Seeing Hinata is nice. It gives Tobio a rush, a little dizzying at times, but it’s a good kind. Tobio doesn’t mind it one bit.

(He also has a sneaking suspicion that some of it is Suga’s doing, because suddenly there’s a lot of goods and pastries he wants Tobio to deliver over to the spell shop— _just showing my thanks for all they’ve done for us_ , he’ll say, or _someone’s gotta make sure Hinata eats, right, Kageyama?_ —and some of it is a little ridiculous. Tobio will admit that it’s a bit embarrassing, just how quick he is to jump on the idea to head over there—Tsukishima had even raised an eyebrow one time—but he’ll take what he can get. It’s better than being bored in the bakery with just Peanut for company, and Tobio will take the embarrassment over mind-numbing nothingness any day.)

(Hinata also seems to be coming over a lot more for cinnamon rolls and cream puffs. Tobio wonders if he should start being concerned.)

He’s halfway through decorating one of the cakes when he sees Hinata cross through the window. There’s a portion of the bakery’s window that lets people outside see them at work, and since the back room is pretty full today, Tobio had gotten saddled with using the decoration window, a three-layered cake standing tall before him with a bunch of different frostings laid by his side.

Hinata walks right past him, but then stops right in his tracks to do a double-take, looking back. His eyes go big and round when he sees Tobio there, and he presses a hand against the glass. Tobio sees his mouth open and moves to tell him something, but it’s too muffled, and he can’t make out a single thing Hinata is saying.

Shaking his head, Tobio points to his ears and tries to tell Hinata that he can’t hear him.

Thankfully, Hinata seems to understand it, and takes a small step backward. Tobio gestures to the door, a question to ask if Hinata will be coming in, but to his surprise this time, Hinata shakes his head with a small smile. He makes a small motion with his hands, as if to tell Tobio to _go on_. It takes him a moment before he gets what Hinata means, and then he blinks, picking up the frosting tube he was using before he’d gotten distracted by Hinata’s presence.

It’s much more awkward now that he knows Hinata is watching him, and Tobio would be lying if he said it didn’t make him nervous. He can feel the heat of Hinata’s gaze right on him, constant and unyielding, but Tobio shakes those thoughts out and forces him to focus on the task at hand. Squeezing out the yellow frosting, Tobio makes sure that he’s spreading them evenly, curving around the cake to form out the layout in his head. It’s one of the simpler designs, one that Tobio’s done a couple times before already, so it’s not too hard. He’s always been a bit of a perfectionist, though—and it doesn’t take long before he immersed himself fully into it, knitting his eyebrows in concentration. He might not be much of a baker, but there’s a reason Daichi had placed him in charge of decoration, and it’s because Tobio can be pretty damn good at it. And he _likes_ doing it—it’s simple and relaxing and he doesn’t have to think too hard. He just needs to make it look _nice_ , and that he can do with ease.

When Tobio finishes, adding one last cherry on top of the cream, he claps his hands together to add a slight layer of frost over it, keeping it cool, and steps back to admire his work. He sees a flash of orange right out of the corner of his eye, and he suddenly remembers that Hinata had been watching the whole time.

Glancing up, Tobio finds Hinata right where he’d left him. He’s already looking at Tobio when he meets his gaze, and Tobio’s surprised to find something strange in his eyes, like he’s thinking hard about something. Tobio doesn’t really understand so he waves a hand in front of him, and Hinata blinks, snapping out of whatever spell he was in. He grins up at Tobio almost instantly, pressing both of his palms against the glasses.

Hinata leans in closer, and his words are still pretty muffled when he speaks, but it’s good enough that Tobio can read his lips. “I thought you said you couldn’t bake!” he says, his smile wide and toothy. He points down toward the cake. “It looks amazing! You’re so cool!”

Tobio flushes, and he bites the inside of his cheek, stumbling as he wipes his hands against his apron. “It’s not that hard,” he mutters, but Hinata doesn’t seem to hear him, instead pressing his cheek against the glass. He looks so silly and ridiculous that it makes Tobio crack a little smile, and he shakes his head. Tilting his head, he motions for Hinata to come on in already, and Hinata breathes out a laugh before nodding, turning to the right to finally enter.

“Hey,” Tobio says when Hinata’s close enough, rearranging the frosting packets into a neat stack. The next cake should be heading his way soon once Tsukishima’s finished with it, so he won’t really have long before he’s busy again.

“I thought you said you couldn’t bake,” Hinata repeats as he approaches, petting Peanut on the head as he passes. He’s got a teasing smile on his lips, crossing his arms and leaning against the wall next to the table.

“I can’t,” Tobio answers flatly. “This is decorating. It’s different.”

“Well, you’re amazing at it,” Hinata tells him, and Tobio squints his eyes, looking for a trace of sarcasm, or maybe the hint of an oncoming punchline, but he doesn’t find any. Hinata is being genuine, looking right at Tobio with an honesty that slightly overwhelms him.

“Um. Thanks,” Tobio mumbles out after a moment, his throat feeling dry. He pretends to be busy arranging the materials, refilling one of the packets just to give him an excuse not to look at Hinata.

“You know,” Hinata says, a slight tilt to his voice as he steps closer, something mischievous growing in his grin. “If you let me taste it, it might make up for the whole exploding cream puffs thing.”

Tobio raises an eyebrow. “We settled that already, dumbass,” he says, flicking Hinata on the forehead. “And you can’t have any, obviously. It’s for a customer.”

Hinata frowns, rubbing at the spot between his eyebrows. “Just a little bit!” he says, whining like a little kid. “So small no one will even notice!”

He just rolls his eyes. “No, stupid. They’re gonna know.”

Hinata raises an eyebrow, quick to counter. “How are they gonna know?”

“They just will,” Tobio deadpans, fixing a stare right at him. “Tsukishima’ll be pissed if he ever finds out. He probably enchanted this one too, just for good measure.”

“But isn’t that all the more reason to do it? Just imagine the look on his face,” Hinata says, all pointedly and smug. And while Tobio will admit that it _is_ a tempting offer, to try just to see if they can get away with it, he knows it’s a stupid idea. And if Daichi or Suga ever found out—well, Suga would probably laugh first, to be honest—Tobio knows that enabling Hinata isn’t a good idea.

“No,” Tobio says with as much finality he can muster, leveling his gaze with Hinata. After a moment or two, the redhead just frowns, groaning, and slumps over one of the chairs. Tobio rolls his eyes, sighing. He already knows what the next words out of his mouth are going to be, and it’s a little pathetic, he thinks, that he’s even saying them at all. “Oi, dumbass,” he calls out, and Hinata perks up again, looking over at Tobio with a question on his face. “If you’re really hungry, I guess you could—just go and pick something out, I’ll put it on the house.”

Hinata stares, surprised. “But this isn’t even your shop.”

Tobio rolls his eyes. “Seriously? Just pick something out, would you? It’s free food.”

Hinata looks at him for a moment, a thoughtful look on his face as though he’s considering something inside his head. “Okay,” he says slowly, and a bright smile finds its way back into his face. “Thanks, Kageyama!”

Tobio shakes his head as he watches Hinata get up and take a look over the shelves, a hand coming under his chin as he goes over his choices. “Dumbass,” he mutters under his breath—it should scare him, how soft and _fond_ it comes out, but it’s left his lips before he can even snatch it back.

While Hinata’s gone, Tobio keeps himself busy by preparing two cups of coffee for them. Hinata had said he likes it with a lot of sugar like the sweet tooth that he is, so Tobio makes sure to add a little bit of cream on it too. He’s not as good as Suga is when it comes to making drinks, but Tobio’s hoping it’ll come out right anyway. He prepares one for himself, keeping it simple with a lot of milk.

Glancing over Hinata, Tobio can’t describe the way his heart begins to stutter, a warmth gracing his cheeks without permission. There’s just something about the way he looks, with the last fight’s worth of sunlight touching his skin and marking his hair, like he truly is made of summer magic. And it doesn’t help that Hinata is nice, that Hinata seems to actually care more about Tobio than anyone else has in a really long time, that Hinata is somehow made of every little thing that Tobio is not, and it’s always been a given that shadows like to reach for the sun. Where Tobio is a natural disaster in the making, Hinata is who stitches the sky back together, putting everything back in place and spinning the world enough that it’s nearly impossible not to fall into his gravity.

Suddenly, Hinata turns to look over at Tobio, and he startles, turning flustered, embarrassed at being caught. But Hinata doesn’t seem to notice—he grins at Tobio, all lopsided and crooked and toothy, and shoots him a quick wink before looking back at the menu. Tobio’s heart skips a beat, the butterflies beating around his chest madly, and it’s silly because all Hinata really did was _smile,_ but it’s also the exact moment that Tobio realizes he is completely and utterly _fucked._

Maybe he should’ve seen this coming. Maybe he already sort of knew it would happen. Tobio’s always been the kind to fall too fast.

“Hey, so I got two pork buns ‘cause I thought it wouldn’t be fair if I was eating and you weren’t,” Hinata says, appearing in front of Tobio without warning, holding one of the steaming buns for him to take. “But don’t worry, I’ll pay for the other one—and _no buts_ , Kageyama.”

Tobio frowns, wondering how Hinata had already known without him even having to say it. Resigning himself to it, Tobio reaches out for the pork bun and mutters a quiet thanks, and nods slowly. If possible, Hinata’s smile widens even more, and he leans against the counter, chewing at his pork bun with a small, happy hum. Tobio moves to join him, sliding into the spot on his left—it’s almost his break anyway, and everyone in the bakery seems to be minding their own business, content for now.

He slides over the cup of coffee, which Hinata gratefully accepts, taking a small sip. Tobio feels pride swell inside of him when Hinata doesn’t seem to have a single complaint, pretending the flush on his cheeks is from the warmth of his drink and not something else entirely.

“Why’re you here anyway?” Tobio asks Hinata, a little muffled since his mouth is half-filled, looking over at his friend.

“What, you don’t wanna see me?” Hinata teases back, his voice light and eyes mischievous. “I thought you liked me, Kageyama!”

Tobio nearly chokes on his food, and he coughs slightly. Hinata shoots him a worried glance, and he quickly shakes his head, waving a hand off to show he’s fine. “Dumbass,” Tobio says, and Hinata laughs, a bright and soft sound that makes Tobio feel like he’s free-falling. “What I meant was,” he says, bumping his arm against Hinata’s shoulder, hard enough that it causes the redhead to stumble slightly, and he snickers to himself. “Shouldn’t you be at your own shop?”

“Okay, you caught me,” Hinata admits, a sly smile dancing on his lips. “Technically, I _am_ supposed to be there right now, but it’s not like I left it alone! Yamaguchi’s over there right now, and he said he’d send a spell if he needed help.”

Tobio raises an eyebrow. “So you were bored and came over here to bother me instead?”

A laugh bubbles right out of him. “Exactly,” Hinata says, grinning. Tilting his head a little to the side, he shrugs, taking a bite of his bun, and says, “Well, really I’m supposed to be working on this new order that came through, but I’ve been struggling with the ingredients. I don’t know what to do, so _that’s_ why I figured I’d come over here and bother you instead.”

“Of course,” Tobio says flatly, snorting, ahd Hinata laughs again. Secretly, he wonders if it was possible to bottle laughter up, to tuck it in somewhere for safekeeping, for the days that came rougher than others. There’s bound to be some sort of charm for that, isn’t there? Or perhaps laughter is a kind of magic all on its own, one that can never be tamed or held, only felt.

“It’s all just so _gahhh,”_ Hinata says with a groan, sounding frustrated. Finished with his food, he throws his hands up in the air and rubs them down his face, a slight scowl tugging down his mouth. “I mean, the spell itself is fine, I can handle it easily—it’s the ingredients themselves. They’re too—they’re too _complicated._ ”

Tobio frowns. “What kind are they?”

Hinata huffs, snaps his fingers, and a list appears in his hands. “Honeybush nectar, noctilucous jade **,** anemo crystals, a frog’s eye...but I’ve already got those stuff. It gets tricky with the other items, like blue slime condensate, pollen from a flame flower, and unbelievably, _a bottle of lightning._ Are you listening to me? Lightning! Where am I supposed to get that?”

“I can get you one,” Tobio blurts out before he can stop himself. He gestures awkwardly, lifting a hand. “I can… I know how to get one. It’s—it’s pretty easy with the, um, the whole weather thing.”

Hinata blinks, and his eyes widen, as if coming to the realization himself. “Really?” he asks, sounding a little bewildered. “You’d do that?”

Tobio shrugs. “It’s not too hard,” he tells Hinata. And he’s telling the truth—the hardest part is just making sure you’re not overpowering it, which needs a bit of concentration, but it’s nothing Tobio will fall short off.

“You don’t have to, I mean, I could probably try asking around, and they might have some of that stuff in the market, and I wouldn’t want to bother you if you’re busy—”

“Hinata,” Tobio interrupts, giving the other boy a look. He crosses his arms. “Does it seriously look like I’m busy?”

Hinata’s cheeks turn a light shade of pink, and he brings up a hand to rub the back of his neck, sheepish. “Heh, guess not,” he says, a bit embarrassed.

Tobio feels heat warm his own cheeks. “And you said it yourself, didn’t you?” he says, shifting his gaze slightly away. “We’re friends, and friends are supposed to bother each other, stupid.”

Hinata lets out another laugh, nervous and awkward, soft around the edges. “Yeah,” he says with a small smile. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. But only if it really isn’t any trouble.”

“You just said you came over here to _bother me_ , and now you’re worried about causing me trouble?” Tobio asks, amused. “Have you already forgotten the whole screaming plant thing? Because I haven’t.”

“Well, if you put it that way,” Hinata says, and he looks right back up at Tobio with a gentle smile. “Thank you,” he tells Tobio, the tone of his voice shaped with nothing but sincerity. “It’ll really help.”

Tobio nods. “When do you need it?”

“This Wednesday,” Hinata answers. Tobio counts the days in his head—that’s around four days from now, which should be more than enough time. It’ll take him an hour at most, but that’s only if he’s horribly unfocused. “Is that okay?”

“It’s fine,” Tobio tells Hinata, waving him off.

“Great!” Hinata says cheerfully. He pushes himself off the counter, dusting his pants off. “Well, I guess I better get started then. Kenma might have some idea for where to get the flowers, and I’ll try to ask Tanaka-san if he knows anything. I’ll see you later, okay?”

“Sure,” Tobio says, finishing up his own pork bun taking a sip from his drink. It’s not too hot anymore, which is just fine by him. “I hope you find what you’re looking for.”

“I’ve got a good feeling,” Hinata says with a smile. He waves at Tobio and heads toward the door, even saying goodbye to Peanut as he exits. However, in his distraction, he bumps his shoulder against the wall, stumbling a little back. Tobio’s just about to move when Hinata turns around, already laughing at himself. “I’m fine!” he calls out, grinning, and Tobio nods, his concern subsiding. He watches as Hinata goes, biting the inside of his cheek all the while.

The moment Hinata is gone, Tobio finds himself crushing the cup in his hand, the coffee nearly overflowing out.

“Look like somebody’s got a coffee cup crush,” a voice muses from behind him, and Tobio whirls around to find Suga, a knowing look on his face as he steps out of the back room, joining Tobio at the register.

“What the fuck _,_ ” Tobio hisses, his heart clenching in his chest. “Why the _fuck_ is he so cute?”

Suga just laughs, tipping his head back, eyes twinkling in amusement. Tobio feels completely embarrassed, but Suga’s always been able to see right through him. As long as this _never_ gets to Hinata, then he should be fine.

He pats Tobio on the shoulder reassuringly, giving him a kind smile. “Hinata’s definitely charming, that’s for sure. You meet him, and it’s like the sun is shining again, right?”

Tobio can’t even disagree because that’s honestly what being with Hinata feels like all the time. “I _guess_ ,” he says, frowning to himself. His heart is beating lightning-quick just at the thought of Hinata—which is entirely too stupid on its own—and it really isn’t fair, he thinks, that he has to feel this way. Hinata doesn’t even have to _try_ to do anything, but he’ll still get Tobio’s head spinning no matter what dumb stuff he’s pulling. That’s kind of pathetic, isn’t it?

“Oh, come on, you can let it out now,” Suga says, nudging him gently. “Lay it all on me. You know, Daichi was horribly oblivious before we got together, so it’s nothing I haven’t seen before.”

Tobio presses his lips together, a little uncertain. He trusts Suga, of course, and from what he’s learned, it does help to say some things out loud. It’s just _embarrassing,_ and Tobio doesn’t exactly have a good track record of handling feelings.

“He’s just so—” Tobio tries to say, before stopping himself short, searching for the right words. His stomach feels like a messy fuzz inside of him, and he doesn’t really know what to think. He hadn’t even truly realized that he liked Hinata up until a while ago, but he _has_ been feeling this way for some time now. “He’s just so—so _bright_. He’s nice and kind and thoughtful, and even when he’s annoying sometimes, I still wanna be around him. He’s so—he’s so _good_ , but I don’t know if it’s right that I—” He clenches his fists together. “I’m not like him.”

“That’s not true,” Suga says quickly, his eyebrows furrowing together. “You’re a good kid, Kageyama. Things have just been rough for you. I may not know all the details, but a couple mistakes don’t make you any less worth trying for.”

“But you said it yourself,” Tobio says, looking down at his hands, closing his palms. If he thinks about it, he’s wanted Hinata to like him this whole time, hasn’t he? And maybe he did it right without even noticing, because it worked a bit and they’re friends now. Tobio’s extremely grateful for it, but that’s also the reason why he’s afraid to ask for anything more. At what cost would it take for something more to happen? For Hinata to like him back in the way that Tobio does? Tobio knows the chances are slim, and perhaps he’s too forward about it—he’d only given it a name today, after all—but he can’t really stop himself from imagining it now, from thinking about it, and it’s so incredibly overwhelming that he feels like he’s bracing himself against the tide, holding fast onto a line that’s slipping away from him. “He’s like summer,” Tobio says, bringing up a hand, a crackle of lightning and thunder on his palm. A storm brewing that begins right with him. “And you know how my magic is. You know how I can be.”

Suga just shakes his head, a small smile on his lips. “Ah, but that’s not all to it, Kageyama. If there’s anything I’ve learned,” Suga says, and he clasps his own hands together. Tobio’s little storm disappears almost instantly, fizzing upwards to break apart into tiny bursts of light, dream-like and wispy. “It’s that love is the best umbrella.”

It makes him squirm, the thought of _love_ —but Tobio looks away, staring down at the ground. “That doesn’t even make sense,” he mumbles. There’s still remnants of static on his fingers, crackling around and biting. “I don’t even know what this is.”

“Then what do you want it to be?” Suga asks him. “Or maybe the first question should be—do you want it to be something?”

“Yes,” Tobio says, before biting down on his tongue. “I mean—no. I don’t know. Should I?”

“That’s not an answer I can give you,” he tells Tobio. “And it’s not something Hinata can tell you either. It’s got to come from you.”

Tobio rubs a hand down his arm, feeling slightly frustrated. Wouldn’t this all just be easier if someone told him what to do? Normally, Tobio hates it when people order him around, but this is all just—it’s confusing and stupid and all Tobio really knows is that he likes being with Hinata. He likes seeing him smile, and hearing him laugh, and it really isn’t too hard to figure out that being with Hinata is the highlight of his day. He’d like Hinata to be there for the rest of his days too, however long that may be. He doesn’t know much of the future, but he’d like it if Hinata stuck around to see where it went.

“If I did,” Tobio says, nervous and shaky. “If I did want it to be something, I mean. What would happen next?”

“Then you figure out what _it_ is,” Suga tells him. “What’s that _something_ you see in your head?”

Tobio considers. Sometimes he looks over at Hinata, with that stupid goofy grin on his face when he acts like the little gremlin he is, and Tobio will think something even more silly—that maybe he’d like to do dumb stuff with Hinata for the rest of his life. And sometimes, when they’re walking together to the Gates, Hinata will be going on about his odd customer of the day, and their hands will brush ever so slightly, and Tobio will wonder what it’ll be like to hold Hinata’s hand in his. If his touch will be as warm as it looks, if it will be more than whatever heat the sun has to offer, a campfire for him to keep. Sometimes, Tobio will catch himself thinking about it, some strange distant future where they just get to keep doing this, talking and laughing and hanging out together. Sometimes, Tobio will look over at Hinata and he won’t think of anything at all—not the Coven, not the bakery, not his mistakes. Instead, he’ll look at Hinata and see the sun after a storm, and wonder if this is what it’s like to finally find something to believe in.

Maybe Tobio does know, after all.

He takes a deep breath, trying to steady himself as he asks, “And what happens after that? After I know what it is?”

“Well,” Suga says, smiling. “Then your next step would be to tell Hinata.”

Tobio freezes. It’s one thing to _think_ about it, but another to actually _tell Hinata_ …it’s completely absurd. And that’s not even including the fact that Tobio doesn’t know what Hinata is thinking, or if he wants the same thing Tobio does. What if he thinks Tobio’s being a creep? What if it makes him never want to talk to Tobio again? He can’t have that. He’d just found someone he thought could understand him, and Tobio can’t—he doesn’t want to be alone like that again.

“I can’t do that,” Tobio says, panicked. “I don’t—Hinata—”

“You don’t have to do it now,” Suga reassures him quickly, holding his hands out. “It’s always different for everyone. Some people like to say it the moment they know, and others like to wait around a while. Some people never say it at all, but it’s always been good to be honest. But it really depends on you, whenever you feel ready.”

“And what if I never am?” Tobio asks.

Suga shakes his head. “You will be,” he says, with a confidence that Tobio can’t even begin to fathom. “Sometimes it just happens. You can plan it out, or you can just go with it. It’s up to you.” Suga takes another step forward, and places a hand on Tobio’s shoulder. “And don’t worry about Hinata too much. He’s always worn his heart on his sleeve, and he never does anything he doesn’t mean.”

Tobio knows. It’s what makes all of this even more scary.

“Just don’t stress about it too much, okay?” Suga says with a light pat. “It’ll work out. Just go with it, and see where it takes you. Love is a strange and mysterious thing, but if you do it right, everything else will just follow.”

Tobio nods, pretending to understand even when his head is still spinning, trying to swallow everything down. He doesn’t know what he’s going to do exactly, but if Suga’s right about it, then maybe he can just see where it goes. That wouldn’t be too bad, would it? There’s no harm in just going with how it’s always been, and if the day comes that he realizes it’s time to tell Hinata, then maybe it’ll just happen. Maybe he’ll just go with it, like Suga said.

“I’ll think about it,” Tobio manages to say after a moment. Suga seems to be content with his answer, patting him one more time before busying himself with the register. Tobio takes a deep breath and heads back to the decorating table where a new cake is waiting for him. It’s all just too much for one day, so he forces himself to focus on the task at hand, letting it take him away for just a couple of minutes. It lets him relax for just a bit, long enough for him to breathe easier, the afternoon sun tracing patterns on his skin from where it shines down.

And if Tobio imagines seeing Hinata through the window a couple of times, then nobody has to know.

* * *

“—ooooh, you see that lady in the corner there?” Hinata says, pointing over to a woman sitting by the corner, sunglasses perched on the bridge of her nose as she sits with her back straight, sipping a cup of tea with a cheesecake before her. There’s a tinge of light humor in his eyes as he speaks, weaving a tale right out of the air itself, the ends of the threads tied together with flourish. “I’m betting she’s a fancy supermodel who just moved into the city. She’s got two dogs and a really cool apartment that’s got a floor-to-ceiling window, and she’s especially good at fortune-telling, which is also a reason why she’s so successful. The problem is though, her apartment is haunted, and the ghost that lives in her house is very fond of milk, and they always forget they can’t eat anymore, so they keep spilling it everywhere.”

Hinata turns over to Tobio, glancing away from the woman. He smiles, just on the edge of a laugh. “So? What do you think?”

“It’s…good,” Tobio says, nodding a little. Hinata seems to smile even wider, pleased with himself. This is a game they play sometimes, when the days are slow and the people are curious sights. “Very elaborate. Bonus points for the milk thing, I can respect that. But maybe it’s a little bit _too_ much.”

Hinata raises an eyebrow, his grin turning sharp at the invitation of a challenge. “What? Think you can do better?”

Tobio just rolls his shoulders back, leaning forward. He looks over at all the people in the room, surveying those all around them before his gaze finally lands on someone: a young man sitting near the left, his eyebrows knitted in worry as he stares at the phone in his hand, dressed in a neat button-up shirt and white shoes. He looks pretty average, which leaves Tobio generally a lot of room to work with.

“That guy over there,” Tobio says, gesturing over with the tilt of his head. Hinata follows his line of sight, nodding. “He’s got a fishing business down by the harbor. Really good at hydro magic, so it’s pretty successful. But he thinks he got stood up on a date, and is feeling pretty down about it. The truth is that he’s actually at the wrong place, since the date was supposed to happen at _Torino_ Bakery, not here.”

Hinata snickers. “That seems like something you would do, Kageyama,” he teases, swiftly dodging the swipe Tobio throws his way. He hums, tilting his head. “But it’s a little boring, don’t you think? Add some spice to it!”

Tobio rolls his eyes, and hums a little in thought. “Fine,” he says, pursing his lips. He leans over the closer to Hinata, almost conspiratorially. “The fishing business is just a cover. In truth, he’s part of an underground business dealing with dangerous magic. It’s not really much that it’s what he _wants_ to be doing, but he’s got no other choice. He grew up on a small island far from here, and one day his father just up and left. In order to find him, he’s come all this way, and a couple of rumors have told him that the only way he can find his dad is to get his hands a little dirty. But in his spare time, this is what he does.”

“Woah, that’s dark, Kageyama,” Hinata says, his eyes a little wide, but there’s a tinge of amusement in them too. “Not bad. Seven out of ten.”

“Since when were we ranking them?” Tobio asks, looking back at Hinata, incredulous. “And why only seven, dumbass?”

Hinata only shoots him a shit-eating grin, waving a hand around. “Just thought it could use a little work! Where’s your dramatic flair, Kageyama? You seem to have plenty when you’re complaining about the time Peanut peed _and_ pooped on your hand.”

He wrinkles his nose, remembering the incident. It had not been one of his finer moments, and _of course_ Hinata just had to be there to witness it, doubling over in laughter while Tobio let out a long string of curses. As expected, Hinata had been unaffected by any glare Tobio had sent his way.

“Okay then,” Tobio says, tossing the ball he’d been holding over to Hinata, who catches it with ease, throwing it in between his hands back and forth. “Your turn. Be as dramatic as possible.”

Hinata smirks, always one for a challenge. His eyes squint as he surveys the area, before his eyes seem to land at someone over by the other side. “Her,” Hinata says, discreetly pointing to an older woman close to the doors, a cup of coffee on her table and a half-eaten sandwich. Her eyes are on the world beyond them, watching the leaves sway in the autumn breeze, lost in thought.

“Go on.”

Hinata takes a deep breath. “When she was young,” he begins, and Tobio watches as Hinata unfolds a story, picking out the details and shaping the words to his liking. “Her house burned down, and her parents died. An accident, people said. A candlestick that burned too bright, quick enough that not much could be done, and even less could be salvaged. She was forced to move to the city with her aunt, where she restarted her life and tried to move on. But it was a lot trickier than she expected, and luck was never truly on her side. But one day, she met someone, and she thought that her life was finally gonna change. They were everything she ever wanted, and they were both hopelessly in love with each other. They were happy for a while. But even the best things need to end eventually, and so it did—on a trip, her lover was lost to the sea, never to return. And now she waits for the day she comes back, hoping that it’ll be soon, and wishing that the stars will be kind to them both.” Once he’s finished, Hinata claps his hands together, and looks back up at Kageyama with an expectant gaze. “Your rating, good sir,” Hinata says with a mock-bow, a grin on his face.

Tobio pretends to pause to contemplate it, and Hinata bounces on his toes in anticipation. After a moment, Tobio stares right at him head-on and says, “Two.”

Hinata’s jaw drops. “What? But it was so good! It was dramatic!”

Tobio’s lips twitch into a smile, trying very hard not to laugh. “Too dramatic for me,” he says, amused at Hinata’s incredulous expression. “And really sad. Couldn’t you at least have given it a happy ending?”

“It was _hopeful_!” Hinata objects. He crosses his arms, and shakes his head. “Clearly you don’t know how to appreciate a good story when you see it.”

Tobio snorts. “Sure,” he says. He watches as Hinata spins the ball on his finger before settling back down on the table, watching it roll close to the edge. Picking it up again, Tobio looks around. They’ve gone through most of the customers already, constructing fictional backstories and laughing about it, seeing how far they can go.

“I’ve got a new idea,” Hinata pipes up suddenly, and the smile he wears tells Tobio that he’s up to no good.

“Here we go,” he replies flatly. “Let’s see what ridiculous thing you’ve come up with now.”

Hinata punches his shoulder lightly, scoffing. “Okay, first off—rude,” he tells Tobio, who tries to suppress another smile. “Second—it’ll be fun, I promise.”

“You say that about all your ideas,” Tobio points out, raising an eyebrow. “Like that race to the market—which, by the way, ripped three different holes in my jeans—and that other time with the anti-gravity charm, and not to mention the maple latte incident—”

“Oh, hush, you non-believer,” Hinata says, unaffected as he waves a hand around in dismissal. “You know you’re gonna listen anyway.”

“Only because I have nothing better to do,” Tobio quips back. It’s a half-lie—Tobio thinks he could probably listen to Hinata’s stupid ramblings for the rest of his life. It brings some sort of strange comfort, familiarity, even, and it’s unlike anything he’s found anywhere else. Maybe this sort of thinking is heavily influenced by his feelings, but it doesn’t really matter now, does it? The line between is so blurred that Tobio finds all of it overlapping, and all he can see is Hinata standing at the center, the one clear thing in all of this mess.

“It’s simple,” Hinata tells him brightly. “I describe someone, and you try to guess who it is.”

Tobio isn’t too sure that the scope of people they both know is big enough. He’s heard about some of the guys at the bookstore because Hinata’s friends with them, the others who work at the spell shop, and some from the pet store not too far down. There’s Bokuto from the ice cream parlor, and then everyone else from the bakery. It’s not a lot, but he finds himself nodding anyway, if only to see where it’ll go. Hinata’s always got something up his sleeve.

“Okay,” Tobio says. “Let’s hear it.”

“The first one’s really easy.” Hinata snaps his fingers together. “Blonde, doesn’t seem to care about much, super tall. One time I stole their glasses, and I learned that their vision is just _awful_. For some reason Yamaguchi likes them a whole lot, and they have a terrible habit of hexing poor, unsuspecting, hungry coworkers.”

“Tsukishima,” Tobio answers without missing a beat. He glances over his shoulder suspiciously, almost as though saying the name will summon the man himself.

“I did say it was easy,” Hinata tells Tobio. “Hm, next. Got really weird hair, also super tall, and for some reason likes bothering Daichi-san. I’ve heard they’re really good at potions, but they work down at the bookstore.”

Tobio wracks his brain for the name to come to mind. He’s never been too good at remembering them. “What was his name again?” he mutters to himself. He’s only been to the bookstore a handle of times, and he _knows_ who Hinata is talking about—he just can’t put the name on it. Then finally, after a moment it clicks, the right one flashing in his mind for the briefest of seconds. “Kuroo-san,” he says, still not too confident. “I think that’s what his name was?”

“Right!” Hinata says, pointing up a finger to the sky. “Nice one!”

“His hair _does_ look weird,” he says with a nod.

“Doesn’t it? Glad we agree,” Hinata tells him, breathing out a small laugh. “Okay, next one. Really sweet and supportive, but is also really cool and a fan of spicy things. Amazing at levitation spells, so much that they’re barely on the ground themselves. Blonde and wears star clips in their hair often. Comes by here a lot.”

He takes a moment to think about Hinata’s hints. Hinata has a tendency to think everyone is nice in some way, so the first part doesn’t really narrow things down. The second is more helpful though, since a display of magic like that isn’t all that common. In the next moment, Tobio nods to himself, and says, “Yachi.”

“Yup!” Hinata says with a grin. “See? This isn’t too bad, right?”

Tobio rolls his eyes. “I guess not,” he admits, and Hinata’s smile widens even more.

“That’s the spirit,” Hinata says with a wink, and Tobio tries not to flush, placing his hands into his pockets. “This is the last one. Make a good guess, okay? It’s pretty easy.”

Tobio shrugs, wondering what the implications of Hinata’s words might mean. “Go ahead.”

“Alright,” Hinata says, exhaling slowly. “They’re tall, a little weird, and really honest. I don’t think they’re very good at expressing their feelings or what they think, but I can tell they’re trying really hard to be better. They also don’t smile a lot, but to be honest, I think they’ve been doing it a bit more lately, which makes me happy. They can also be really funny sometimes without trying, and they’re really thoughtful and sweet, even when they don’t think they are.”

“Hinata, these aren’t very helpful,” Tobio says, frowning a little to himself. It would be a lot easier if Hinata described what they looked like instead, because he isn’t really getting much out of what he’s saying.

Hinata just shakes his head, a strange smile to his face. “Well, like I said, they’re tall. They’ve got really pretty blue eyes, and sometimes it kinda looks like they don’t know where to put their hands. They’re also _really good_ at magic—one of the best I’ve ever seen, and it makes me want to try harder. They’re really—they’re really _something_ , you know? Does this ring a bell yet?”

His frown deepens. “No,” he tells Hinata. “Where do they work? Are you sure I know them?”

Hinata rolls his eyes, but the gesture looks almost fond. “Yes, stupid, you know them. And yeah, they work here.”

He furrows his eyebrows. He’d already guessed Tsukishima earlier, and he doesn’t have blue eyes. Neither does Daichi, and Suga’s a little weird sometimes, but Tobio doesn’t think it’s either of them. But then that would only leave—

“Me?” Tobio says, voice a little strained. “Is it—me?”

“Ding, ding, ding!” Hinata says with a grin. “Finally, I was getting a little scared you wouldn’t get it.”

Tobio’s mind blanks, replaying all the words Hinata had just said—about _him_. Did he really think all those things of Tobio…? It seemed too unlikely, but Hinata wasn’t the type to lie. Tobio knew that much, but it seemed too surreal for it to even exist at all.

“I meant it, by the way,” Hinata says, as though reading Tobio’s thoughts. “Before you start worrying if it was a joke or something silly like that, I meant it. It’s what I think. I hope it wasn’t too weird or anything.”

Tobio barely manages to speak. “No,” he says, but he’s not entirely sure what bit of it he’s responding to. He feels his cheeks warming considerably, and he must look like he’s on fire. Hinata’s got a cheeky smile on his lips, probably seeing right through Tobio’s bewilderment and embarrassment.

He doesn’t want to speak too soon—but it gives him a little _hope_ , maybe. What Hinata had said was far too kind, but the honesty was real, and if that’s truly what he thinks of Tobio…then he must be doing something right, isn’t he? And without even realizing it at the same time. He doesn’t want to assume, or make something out of nothing, but if there’s even just the slightest hint of a _chance,_ then Tobio will latch onto it as best as he can. It’s the only thing he has. It might not go anywhere, and it might just be nothing—but this is probably the only thing he’ll be thinking about for the next _month_.

“Kageyama? You okay?”

Tobio stammers, “I—um—thanks,” he says, feeling incredibly flustered. “You’re—you’re really something too. I think you’re really interesting.”

“Oh,” Hinata says, his cheeks coloring with just the slightest shade of pink. “Oh,” he says again, blinking. “Thank you.”

Tobio nods, and looks away, not really knowing what to do with himself. He can’t get what Hinata said out of his head at all— _pretty eyes_ , Hinata had said. Tobio hasn’t forgotten—this isn’t the first time Hinata’s called him pretty, though it is the first he’s said all of those other nice things. It makes him feel all warm and weird inside, like his chest doesn’t really know what to do with what he’s feeling. He doesn’t think he could describe it right—it’s a whole jumble of things inside him, electrifying and gooey and thrilling and shaky all at once, and he feels like a cloud of sunburst, that in-between of a clear day and an oncoming storm, the wind billowing hard on the feet but soft on the shoulders, unsure of which way to go. A blurriness that lines his heart, traces over to his lungs until all he knows to breathe is the sunburst of Hinata’s eyes and the summer of his smile.

Ah, Tobio might be a little more in love than he thought.

“Hey,” Hinata says, poking Tobio’s elbow. He snaps his fingers together, a little mini-cloud coming over to water the small, potted plant on the corner. Tobio watches, a proud smile coming to rest on his lips. Hinata had mastered it a couple days back, bursting right into the bakery to show off, a cheeky and pleased look on his face as he tried to bully a compliment out of Tobio—Tobio would have given him one anyway, because it really _was_ good. Not exactly an affinity, but something built on practice. Tobio understood that better than anyone.

“Have you ever swallowed a falling star?”

Tobio blinks at him. “A what?” he asks. “Is that even possible?”

“It’s a candy, stupid,” Hinata says, flicking Tobio on the forehead lightly. “Have you ever tried it?”

“I don’t even know what it is.”

“Really?” Hinata says, pushing himself off of the counter. “We’ll have to fix that then.” He reaches into his pocket, and pulls out two little wrappers, the plastic crinkling beneath his fingers as he removes it. Tobio tries to catch a closer look, curious, but then Hinata throws them both up into the air. It leaves a little glitter in its wake, and Tobio wrinkles his nose when it falls on his face, wiping it off his cheeks. Looking back up, he finds the two pieces of candy floating a couple of feet in the air, close to the ceiling. They glow white-gold, shaped like five-pointed stars, revolving around each other slowly.

Hinata points up at them, looking over at Tobio with an excited smile. “Go on. Try it.”

“How?”

“Like this,” Hinata answers, and he steps forward. He lets out a small whistle, opening his mouth. One of the candies seems to vibrate, beginning to shake. In the next instant, it begins to fall down, fast and quick, and Hinata is there to catch it, swallowing it down. His skin seems to glow, illuminating with all sorts of lines tracing over his skin, the freckles on his cheeks lighting up like true constellations. He laughs, looking down at himself. “Cool, right?” he asks Tobio, grinning. “It makes you feel all warm inside too! Your turn!”

Tobio glances up at the candy, a little hesitant. Hinata nods, urging him to go on. Moving slowly, Tobio mimics what Hinata did, letting out a soft whistle. He waits for the candy to shake before opening his mouth. It starts falling not too long after, and Tobio’s mouth explodes with flavor, warm and sweet and milky like chocolate, and he sees the light begin to trace around his skin, just like Hinata. It’s a strange feeling, but Hinata had been right—it’s _good_ , and Tobio wonders where on earth he’d managed to find these. Though he’s never really been much for candy, Tobio’s never seen them around before.

“Yachi gave them to me as a present when she went on her trip abroad,” Hinata explains, like he’d already known what Tobio wanted to ask. “They’re pretty hard to make, which is why they’re not sold that often. She gave me some for my birthday, and I’ve been trying to save them. They’re the _best._ ”

“They’re good,” Tobio tells him, nodding. Most candies are charmed to make them more fun for kids, but he’s never really seen anything like that. “I can see why you like them.”

“Want more?” Hinata asks, digging into his pocket. He pulls out four more, reaching out to hand them over.

“I thought you said you were saving them,” Tobio tells Hinata, raising an eyebrow.

Hinata shrugs. “I’ve still got a couple more back home, but they’ve always been much more fun when you’ve got someone to share them with. It always changes, and maybe this time it’ll taste like pop rocks! When that happens, it’s kinda like explosions on your skin, so it’s kinda ticklish. Oh man, I hope you get the slime one, you’d _hate_ it.”

Tobio rolls his eyes, and Hinata hands one over to him. “Are you sure?” he asks. “I don’t really mind.”

“Neither do I,” Hinata says, and he looks sincere enough. “Come on, Kageyama.”

“Okay,” Tobio says. He takes the candy, and watches as Hinata throws his piece up into the air. His stomach feels weird, but it’s got nothing to do with the candy—instead it’s the kind that usually comes around when he’s with Hinata, fleeting and quick, settling right into his bones like it’s carved a shape to stay there forever. He’s mostly gotten used to it, but there are still times when it catches him off-guard, knocking the wind out of his lungs. Because sometimes it’s just like this with Hinata—making fun of customers and messing around, simple and easy, and it’ll just feel like they’re making up for lost time. Tobio can’t help but wonder what it would’ve been like if he had met Hinata at an earlier time. Things would be a whole lot different, wouldn’t they? Maybe he would’ve never joined the Coven, or maybe Hinata would be in it right beside him. He knows it’s a little useless to think about it, and even when he does all he can really believe that he’s glad he’d met Hinata anyway, no matter where or when. It might be a little too soon, but Tobio feels a certainty he hasn’t really felt before, that he wouldn’t give this up. It’s scary to think that he might be moving too fast about this, stumbling right into something unknown, and he wonders if he should try slowing down.

But then Tobio looks over at Hinata, who’s tugging at his wrist to try to get him to move closer, Tobio realizes that maybe he doesn’t need to be afraid, not when Hinata seems to be keeping up with him just fine.

* * *

The seashells on the wind chime tinkle when Tobio pushes the door open, stepping into the shop without much trouble. In his hand he holds a small bottle, careful not to bump into anything in case it might break. Ducking under a couple of flying books, he moves with practice and ease, side-stepping around the shelves and pots, making his way toward the main counter. It’s not long before he makes it there, greeted by the gold sunlight streaming through the wide windows, the rays dancing on the bottles and leaves like an unsung melody. Hinata is already there, humming a song under his breath as he cares for the snapdragon, adding a sprinkle of dust to it.

Tobio walks up to him, clearing his throat as he approaches. “Hey,” he says. He feels oddly nervous, his heart stuttering in his chest and his palms a little sweaty, but he tries to convince himself that it’s nothing, because it’s _just_ Hinata, and there really isn’t anything worth being nervous for. He’s just here to give what Hinata asked for. He’s just here to help out a friend.

It probably just doesn’t help that Hinata looks as beautiful as always, just like the daylight itself.

“Hi! Hinata says, looking up from the plant to wave at Tobio, dusting his hands off on his pants. There’s something about him that’s almost golden, supernatural, but he sort of always looks like that whenever Tobio comes over to the shop—even in the disorganization and clutter, Hinata looks like he fits right in amongst the magical items and the enchantments, like he’s always belonged in its blaze, a sight to behold wherever he goes.

“Here,” Tobio says, and he holds out the bottle for Hinata to see. Blue lightning crackles inside before fizzing out and reappearing, the soft zap of electricity muffled beyond the glass. “I hope it’s okay.”

Hinata’s eyes widen when he sees it, taking the bottle into his hands with careful fingers, looking awestruck and bewildered. “ _Woahh_ ,” he says, and Tobio swears that there are stars in his eyes. He holds the bottle right up to his face, so much that his nose is squished against it, his gaze tracing the pattern of lightning. It even reflects back onto his eyes, a curved mark of the heaven trapped in the colors of his irises, like a storm brewing right inside of him, waiting for the right moment to be released.

“This is amazing!” Hinata says, pulling the glass back, eyes flickering over back at Tobio, positively beaming. “It’s so cool!”

Tobio feels his cheeks warm, and he shoves his hands into his pocket, not knowing what to do with them now that they’re empty. “It wasn’t that hard,” he mumbles, willing the blush back down. The thing is, Tobio’s used to being praised for his skill in magic, and he knows he’s capable of far greater things than lightning in bottles. But with the way Hinata is looking at him, like it truly is the coolest thing he’s ever seen, and the complete sincerity in his compliments—coupled with the fact that it’s _Hinata,_ and Tobio has come to care about what the redhead more than he’d like to admit—it just feels different. Like a layer has peeled off to give way to something more personal, something closer. That something Hinata says is worth more than anything anyone else could possibly tell him.

“Then you should teach me one day,” Hinata says, that loose, confident smile back on his face. “It went pretty well last time!”

Tobio waves a hand around to hide the redness of his cheeks. “Yeah, yeah, sure,” he manages to say, voice a little strained. He gestures over to the bottle again. “I just hope it works right.”

“I’m sure it will,” Hinata says easily. “It’s more than enough, I bet. My order for the jade should be coming in sometime today, so I’ll be able to start putting it all together.”

“That’s good,” Tobio says, nodding his head. “Just…be careful when you use the lightning. It’s pretty strong, and the shock might be too much if you let it touch you.”

“Got it,” Hinata says, showing Tobio a thumbs up. The snapdragon shakes its leaves when Hinata moves his hand a little too close, and Tobio shoots it a wary glance. He still doesn’t trust it one bit, and is careful to keep a proper distance from it. Hinata seems to notice, snickering to himself, and Tobio flicks him on the forehead. “Oh! That reminds me! I got you something!”

Tobio blinks. “What,” he says, not much of a question. He watches as Hinata turns around and disappears into the back room without another word. There’s a bit of muffled rustling, a sharp clang, and Tobio tries to peek through the door, a little worried. But everything must be fine, because Hinata comes right back out a moment later, suspiciously holding something in his hands behind his back. He’s got that stupid little smile he wears when he’s being cheeky, and Tobio feels the distrust shift underneath his bones. The last time Hinata had given him something was for that old competition of theirs, and while it’s been a few weeks since they’ve stopped, he’d always sort of known it would make a comeback eventually.

“Close your eyes,” Hinata says, bouncing on his toes and grinning like the little gremlin he is.

“No,” Tobio says, eyeing him cautiously. It isn’t that he doesn’t trust Hinata obviously, but they don’t exactly have the best track record when it comes to gift-giving, do they?

“Close your eyes,” he reapers, insistent. “Come on! It’ll only be for a bit! It’s a good surprise!”

Tobio raises an eyebrow. “Define ‘good.’”

Hinata just shakes his head, his smile exasperated but fond. “The _best_ kind of good. You’ll like it! I mean, I hope you do. So close your eyes! And no peeking!”

He shoots Hinata one last look before agreeing, hesitant as he closes his eyes. He can hear Hinata setting something on the table—it doesn’t seem like anything big—and there’s the sound of him clapping his hands together, followed by the warmth of his magic’s glow.

“Open them!” Hinata tells Tobio, sounding cheery and excited.

Tobio slowly does what he’s told, the world coming back into focus in vibrant colors, and finds what Hinata’s placed on the table.

It’s a plant.

It’s a plant that kind of looks like a cat, and Tobio stares right at it, unsure of what it’s supposed to be exactly. The leaves aren’t really much of leaves at all—instead they’re shaped like tiny, light-colored cats, their bodies half-formed as they branch out of the same stem. Tobio might even call it cute if it weren’t so odd and surprising. They’re even _meowing_ , swaying side to side like they’re trying to reach out towards him, and Tobio’s really starting to wonder where the hell Hinata even finds stuff like these.

“Don’t worry, it doesn’t scream,” Hinata says quickly, grinning and holding both of his hands up. “And I know it looks a little weird, but you said you liked cats even though they didn’t seem to like you very much, so I thought that getting you a catbell plant might be a little closer to it. Kind of like practice for when you actually get one!”

Tobio stares. Then he keeps staring a little more, at a loss for words to say. It’s very—thoughtful. It’s thoughtful and admittedly really sweet, and he hadn’t even expected Hinata to remember that about him at all. It had been so long ago, but it seems Hinata had kept it inside of him all this time, and that fact alone is to make him feel all strange and warm inside, heat crawling right up to his cheeks and making him feel flustered.

“Oh,” Tobio says, his throat feeling immensely dry. He looks at the strange plant, the little cats swaying despite the lack of wind. It’s doing funny things to his heart, and the piece of him that had caught feelings for Hinata seems to widen, overcoming a space of his heart to bridge the gap. “I didn’t—I didn’t think you’d remember that.”

Hinata laughs, and it might just be Tobio’s mind still being a little fuzzy, but he thinks it sounds a little nervous. “Of course I’d remember,” he says easily, as though he never doubted he would for a single second, like it was important enough for him to keep, and not just something to be thrown away and forgotten. “Catbells are pretty easy to care for! You’ve just gotta water them once each day, and make sure they’ve got enough sunlight. They like to nap sometimes though, so that’s probably the best time to place them under a sunspot.”

“Nap?” Tobio asks, a little bit confused. He glances back down at the plant—and sure enough, it’s almost like the little cats have fallen asleep, nearly stationary in their movements. “Oh.”

“Yeah,” Hinata says. “I mean, it’s totally fine if you don’t want it—I know not everyone has time to care for plants, and this _is_ a little sudden, and you might not even like it, so you can just—”

“I like it,” Tobio blurts out, cutting Hinata off. Hinata snaps his mouth closed, his eyes wide in surprise. “I like it,” Tobio says again, this time much clearer. “It’s really nice. Of you. I appreciate it. I—thank you.”

Hinata blinks. “You’re welcome!” he says, a smile slowly growing on his face, sunny and happy. “I know it isn’t like the real thing obviously, but maybe you could consider it as a trial run. And anyway, when you do get a cat, I’m pretty good with animals, so I’ll be able to help you with that too!”

Tobio’s breath hitches. He wonders how much time Hinata has promised him without knowing. Maybe he hadn’t even been thinking, but to say it that way—the expectation that he’ll still be here days, weeks, months from now, it’s something Tobio can’t quite fathom. And looking at Hinata now, all happy and proud of himself, there really is only one left for Tobio to resolve towards.

He is going to care the _hell_ out of this plant.

“Where do you even get these kinds of plants?” Tobio asks him, curious. Glancing back and forth between the snapdragon and the catbell, both of them so uniquely strange that Tobio doesn’t even know where to begin. As promised, Hinata had toured him a little more around the shop a couple weeks back, listing all the different kinds of flowers and all their magical properties. All of them were weird to their own nature, and he’d always wondered how Hinata had learned about them.

“Lots of places!” Hinata answers. “There are always greenhouse exhibits, and sometimes I go on short expeditions just to go looking for things, though I usually just stumble on them most of the time. It’s always so cool to find something unusual, thrilling like you might just be a discoverer all on your own.”

Tobio doesn’t really know what leads him to ask, or where he even finds the courage for it, but he finds the words spilling out of his mouth before he can even stop himself. “What’s your favorite then?” Tobio asks, biting the inside of his cheek. “Out of all of these, you’ve got to have one, don’t you?”

“Oh,” Hinata says, and the afternoon sunlight casts a tinge of pink to his cheeks. “It’s a simple one, actually. Not like these. I don’t think it’s got any supernatural abilities at all.”

“What is it?

“Sunflowers,” Hinata answers, a grin on his face. “They’re very common, but there’s always been just something about them, you know? When they bloom it’s like they’re exploding sunburst, and I’ve always thought they were beautiful.”

Tobio, in all honesty, hadn't really expected that. He’d anticipated something grander, like fire-breathing flowers or whirlwind asters. Something special and rare and unique that he’s never heard of before, unattainable and incomparable. But sunflowers—they’re simple. They’re golden and bright and in the summer, fields of them look like drops from the sun itself. Tobio even sees a few every time he walks to work. And Hinata said, they’re pretty common. They’re simple and beautiful and bright and _everywhere—_

But of course that’s exactly why Hinata would like them, isn’t it? Because of how easy they are to reach, their presence is so strong that they fool you into almost believing that even gold can touch the ground, and everything will be alright. Maybe that’s all there is to it, that grandeur found in the simplicity. Like how Kageyama Tobio became a heart on fire after meeting Hinata Shouyou in a quiet street with a bakery, and how his life hasn’t been the same since.

Tobio nods. “Sunflowers,” he says, thinking of the way they remind him just of Hinata, taking note of it, and filing it under all the other Hinata-related things in his head. “Those are good.”

Hinata smiles, small and sincere. “Glad you think so too,” he says. A silence hangs over them for a moment, a halfway bridge between awkward and comfortable, the only sound the crackle of lightning from the bottle, a continuous zapping without a buffer to withhold it.

In an attempt to keep his hands busy, Tobio looks over at the other items on the table. There are books with titles he doesn’t understand, quills and pieces of scrap strewn all over, tiny gemstones cluttered by the window, glinting in the light. After a moment, Tobio’s eyes land on that strange little ball of light he’d noticed the first time he came here, an orb lit constantly while trapped in a small bottle. It hasn’t seemed to dim at all despite the passage of time. Even now, he still wonders what it would be like to touch it—if it would burst at the contact, shimmering into an explosion of gold, or dissolve away into the air, a quiet exit for something small.

“My sister made that,” Hinata tells him, having noticed where Tobio’s attention was. He wears a smile of pride, grinning at Tobio as he picks up the small bottle. There’s a second when the light from the windows hits the bottle, and it’s like the whole room is engulfed in its golden halo, almost blinding even, and Tobio’s forced away just for a moment. “It was actually her first spell! I helped her put it in a bottle as a keepsake, and she gave it to me to hold onto.”

“I didn’t know they could last this long,” Tobio tells Hinata, who holds the bottle out for him to hold. He’s careful as he takes a closer look, but it’s not any different from a simple light charm.

“Me either,” Hinata says, rubbing the back of his neck. “But well, Natsu’s really good when it comes to the light stuff, and I guess sentimentality helps, you know?”

“Yeah,” Tobio says, nodding in agreement. Emotion helps a lot when it comes to magic, swinging either way in the force of it all, so it’s a pretty good theory. Hinata’s told Tobio tons of stories about Natsu before, and despite the usual sibling irritation at times, it’s more often that the fondness seeps through, and it’s clear how much he cares for her. So it really isn’t any wonder why it’s stayed as strong as it does, and Tobio has a feeling it’d be able to illuminate any darkness that tried to overwhelm it, simply by sheer emotion and will. “Is that her specialty then? Light magic?”

“Yup,” Hinata answers. “Just the other day, she showed me this new sunbeam trick she learned, and it was really cool! She’ll master it in no time, you’ll see.” Hinata grins, teasing when he says, “Maybe she’ll even give your Coven a run for its money.”

“If she’s good as you say,” Tobio says, nothing but honest, “then they’ll definitely want to recruit her.”

“They’d be stupid not to want her” Hinata says back, clearly thinking high of his sister. “Ah, but that’ll have to be her decision obviously. I think she’s aiming for it, though.”

A question pops into Tobio’s head, curious and wondering. It makes him a little nervous, and he tries to sound the words out right, feeling them around his mouth before he speaks them. But he glances over at the ball of light, and something pulls him forward, an overwhelming need to know, and the syllables fall right out before he can stop them, not a perfect fit but the best he’s got.

“What about you?” Tobio blurts out, and Hinata’s eyebrows rise in surprise. “Did you _—_ did you ever want to…? Did you ever think about joining the Coven?”

“Oh,” Hinata says, and the surprise melts away into something a bit humorous, as though the answer should’ve been obvious all along. “Of course I did.”

Tobio blinks. “You did?”

“Obviously,” Hinata says, and he walks over to the other side of the counter to stay next to Tobio, hopping up to sit on the table, his shoulder bumping against Tobio’s. “It’s every kid’s dream, isn’t it? Be amazing at magic, and you get to join this group of people who are just as powerful as you, maybe even more. Your name gets listed off as one of the greats, and you help the people. Some get called heroes. It makes a good tale, more than any of this. We all want a better story. Who wouldn’t?”

“Then why didn’t you?” Tobio asks. It’s a little like finding out that Hinata had known of him all over again, and the surprise takes him by storm, a current running through his veins asking to know a little more. “With your skill with magic, you could’ve easily _—_ ”

Hinata shakes his head, cutting Tobio off. “I wanted to. Believe me, I did. It was my dream, and I thought I could make it. I wanted them to know me, to never forget who I was.” He clasps his hands together, and something about it tells Tobio that this is not an easy truth. “But things change. People leave. And you end up somewhere else.”

“Hinata, you don’t have to _—_ ”

“It’s okay,” Hinata says, giving Tobio a warm smile. “I want you to know me, remember? And this is where my heart begins.”

Tobio can’t find the right words this time. Instead, he stays silent, and lets Hinata continue his story, the small piece of sky tucked into his hands like a reminder of all the memories Hinata keeps within him.

“The thing is, it’s just been me and Natsu for a long time,” Hinata says, his voice quiet as he speaks, finger rubbing over the glass. “We never knew our dad, and our mom got really sick when we were both still young. Moved in with our aunt after that, and she was great. She was always busy, though, but I could never blame her for it. So I took care of Natsu the best I could, working wherever I could be needed. You pick up all sorts of magic that way, and it helped, since people are always looking for different things.”

“That’s why you never picked a specialty,” Tobio says, the realization unfolding before him slowly.

“Right,” Hinata says, a strange kind of smile on his face as he nods. “And then when I was eighteen, my aunt wanted to move out of the city and head back to her hometown. But it was better here for Natsu, with her schooling and the jobs, so we both decided to stay. With some of our parents’ money and what I managed to save up, I got to open up this place.” He gestures all around him, and there’s a happier grin on his face, the pride evident in his eyes. “Figured a spell shop was the best way to make use of all I knew. And just like that, the best spell shop in the city was born!”

Hinata swings his legs slightly, bumping his arm against Tobio’s. “It was a little hard at first, but it picked up after a couple of months with Daichi and Suga’s help. I met Yachi and Yamaguchi a bit after too. You wouldn’t believe just how many people accidentally grow a second head, Kageyama, it’s hilarious.”

“But what about _—_ ”

“The Coven, right?” Hinata asks, a knowing smile on his face. “Maybe it’s true that times are hard for dreamers, but to be honest, I don’t really care for it much anymore. Turns out you can be known by others in different ways, you know? And as long as the people who do care about you are the ones who know you, then why should anyone else’s opinion matter? I’ve met so many cool people, and I’ve made some really nice friends. I met you too, didn’t I?”

Tobio flusters, but before he can even think of something to say, Hinata waves a hand in the air, continuing on. “And like I said before, I’ve learned wild magic’s much better anyway. You get to do all sorts of things without anything holding you back, and it’s good for my job. It’s _fun_. And what’s the point in magic if it isn’t any fun?”

Tobio blinks. Is his magic fun?

He thinks about all the early mornings and late nights he’d spent training, how he’d pushed himself to the brink of an exhaustion just to learn a spell by its name. He thinks about how all he’d ever wanted was to be a part of something, to find something to believe in, pouring over books and scrolls for ways to improve and grow. He thinks about how all he’d ever known was to reach the top, to work hard and look straight, because then he would be deserving of it all, and he could make his grandfather proud. He thinks about how he’d wanted to win, to reach the top, and how long he’s spent just waiting for the sun to break through the cloud’s shadows.

He thinks about he probably hasn’t used magic for so many dumb and silly reasons until he met Hinata, with the pranks and the false gifts and the teasing mini-shocks. He thinks about how he’d never enjoyed himself with it ever since Kazuyo-san died, and how much it’s like Hinata had brought it back to life, with his sunset eyes and bright smile, magic’s one and only wildcard and all. He thinks about how Hinata’s magic is different from everything he’s ever known _—_ but it’s the most _fun_ he’s had in a really, really long time.

And for the first time, it occurs to Tobio—maybe he didn’t know magic as well as he thought he did.

Maybe it’s something that’s always changing and growing, because how else is one expected to be better if they stay the same? It’s a lot like people that way, isn’t it? The only way to keep moving is to get on your feet and take that first step up that ladder because the bottom is the only way you’ll ever reach the top. _And if you get really good,_ Kazuyo-san had told him once, the sky a whirlwind of colors seeping into their skin, _someone even better will come and find you._

Tobio looks over at Hinata, and he _knows_.

Kazuyo-san had been right all along.

(A part of him wonders—without restrictions, is that what makes Hinata’s magic invincible?)

Hinata nudges him on the arm, disrupting him from his thoughts. “Hey, where’d you go?”

Tobio blinks, and he finds his friend looking over at him with concern, eyebrows knitted together. “What do you mean? I’m right here.”

“No, just then,” Hinata points out, the edges of his lips tugging downwards just the slightest bit. “You looked like you were somewhere else. Somewhere far away.”

“Oh.” Tobio looks away. “Sorry.”

Hinata breathes out a laugh, soft and warm, and he bumps his arm against Tobio’s again. “I don’t mind, stupid.”

“You don’t?”

“Nope,” Hinata answers, his smile kind and gentle. “I do have one request for you, though.”

“What is it?”

“Well, next time you go over there,” Hinata says, looking right up at Tobio, his eyes just like the falling of the sun. “Mind if I come with you?”

Tobio colors, and he looks away. “Dumbass,” he mutters. He hears Hinata laugh next to him, and though he’s not really sure what it means,, Tobio feels like the answer would always be yes, no matter what Hinata’s asking. He lets out a small cough, feeling immensely awkward, and says, “Thanks, by the way. For telling me.”

“Of course,” Hinata says, sincere. “It’s you. Why wouldn’t I?”

Tobio doesn’t know what to say to that. He feels a brush rise on his cheeks, overwhelmed by the look on Hinata’s face and his words, open and genuine, and it’s times like these when it’s almost as though Hinata doesn’t know to be anything but honest. It’s a wave of greatness where Tobio stands, stranded in a typhoon of emotion, hanging onto the threads of cloud around him.

Before Tobio can find the words, an alarm goes off somewhere in the back room, blaring loud enough to make Tobio jump in surprise. Hinata’s eyes widen, caught in a realization, and he claps his hands together to stop the ringing.

“Ah, that should be my order!” Hinata says, hopping off on the counter and landing on his feet. Picking up some things from the drawers, he glances out the window. Tobio hadn’t even realized that it had started raining—it was still sunny when he came in, but it doesn’t seem to be coming down too hard. He can’t tell if it’s natural or not from here, so he can’t really be certain of how long it’ll last.

“I’ve probably gotta get back too,” Tobio tells Hinata as he picks up the catbell plant, who nods and follows him toward the door. They step outside, and the sound is even louder, the rain hitting the ground and forming a slight mist, slowing down enough that it might be just a drizzle within the next fifteen minutes. It’s easy enough for Tobio to summon up a cloud for himself to shield him from the rain, and he could probably do the same for Hinata, but the distance would limit the spell at one point. Hinata’s already got an umbrella prepared in his hands, though, but Tobio still worries. “Will you be okay out there?” he asks, concerned.

“Don’t be silly, Kageyama,” Hinata says with a gentle smile. He holds his palm up, like an offering to the sky. He looks over at Tobio, and despite the sounds of the rain, his voice is clearer than anything else. “It can’t rain forever.”

And just like that, the rain ceases all at once, the clouds parting and letting the sunbeams fall back towards the pavement, shining on the wet ground. It’s magical, and Tobio blinks, looking around at his surroundings. His eyes catch Hinata’s, and he doesn’t hesitate before asking, “Did you _—_ ”

“It wasn’t me,” Hinata answers him quickly, looking a little surprised. He laughs, rubbing the back of his neck. “But that was pretty cool, wasn’t it?” he says, closing up his umbrella. It’s got small ducks on it for a pattern. “I wonder if it was caused by someone.”

“Maybe.”

“But hey, I did mean what I said,” Hinata tells Tobio. “The sun’s always gotta come out eventually.”

“Yeah,” Tobio says, and it reminds him a little like what Suga had told him before, about love and umbrellas. He wonders if Hinata knows the truth: that he is the sun in Tobio’s twenty-year long storm, the daylight Tobio’s been waiting for his whole life. “You’re right.”

“Well, I’ll see you later, Kageyama!” Hinata says, tucking his umbrella under his arm. “Thanks for the lightning again!”

“Sure,” Tobio says, lifting a hand to wave at him. “See you later.”

Before entering the bakery, Tobio glances back up at the sky, where the sun is slowly breaking through the clouds, illuminating the world once more. In times like these, when the colors are broken apart and pulled back together again, when the shadows flee and the sunbeams dance, it makes it seem like a once-in-a-lifetime event. But it isn’t _—_ it happens so often that he’s forgotten what it felt like to just breathe it in. Common and constant, despite the busy thrill under streetlights and skyscrapers, hidden within the cityscapes. Simple enough to be remembered. Like the sun, like the rain, like the sunflowers.

Like Kageyama Tobio and Hinata Shouyou.

* * *

The early morning sun against his eyelids is enough to wake him from his sleep, an orange glow in replacement of the darkness. The sheets rustle when he moves, and he forces himself to sit up, rubbing at his eyes in hopes to chase the sleep away. His vision is still a little blurry, and he blinks a couple of times, getting it to focus. With it, he finds his room, a lot more messy than he’d like, but he’d come home late from work last night, and was too exhausted to be bothered. It had been some holiday Tobio didn’t care much for, so the bakery was busier than usual, but Tobio didn’t mind too much. Hinata had hung around to help—which actually meant _bother Kageyama_ —and they made up backstories for the customers, raced to see who could stack the cups faster without magic, and bickered over even the smallest of things that Tobio can’t even remember what they were about. But it had been fun, and Hinata was there, and Tobio really couldn’t have asked for anything more.

Speaking of Hinata, Tobio looks over at the catbell plant resting on his bedside table, the cats still fast asleep. Tobio had positioned the pot well enough that they’d be in the right spot for when the sunlight streamed through the window in the afternoon. Snapping his fingers, he summons a small rain cloud to water the plant. It only seems to slightly tickle the plant, and it remains unbothered, still fast asleep.

Tobio lets out a loud yawn, stretching his arms over his head. A couple of his bones pop from the way he’d fallen asleep, and he slaps at his cheeks, trying to get himself to be more awake. Back at the Coven, he’d get up before the sun even rose, but he’s learned that it’s okay to take some things slow too. Of course, now he doesn’t have to deal with any of the training and commissions. Instead, he’s got to do some grocery shopping today, which is probably more favorable. Fortunately, he doesn’t need to go into work until the afternoon, so he can take his time. He still needs to make a list of everything else he needs, and that might take a while.

Just as he’s getting out of bed, he hears a small tap, followed by another, then another. A series of taps without any pattern, and Tobio looks around, trying to find the source. After a few moments, he spots something by the window, hovering a few inches from it. Tobio quickly walks over to it, pulling his window up to open it, the morning wind breezing in like a welcome guest.

There’s a paper crane flying right outside his window, flapping its wings. Tobio can see that there’s even writing on it. Slowly, he reaches out for it, and it goes still as he does so, the magic wearing off. While it’s a pretty common way to send letters to people, Tobio’s never really had one delivered to him before. The Coven had a mailing system, and Miwa tended to just drop in whenever she liked without notice. No one’s ever really written to him before.

Unfolding the paper in his hands, Tobio makes out a messy handwriting _—_ it looks familiar, and Tobio swears that he’s seen it before. There’s a little drawing at the very top, a badly drawn version of what’s labelled to be Tobio’s own frowning face colored in crayon blue. And all of a sudden, everything clicks right into place, and Tobio realizes exactly who it’s from.

_Hi Yama-yama!_

_Yesterday, you were complaining that you finally ran out of milk, so I’m guessing that this means you’re going grocery shopping today. If you are, would you mind if I came along? Turns out I’m pretty low on some stuff too, and Natsu’s busy at school today to come with me._

_If it’s okay with you, I can meet you at the grocery store close to the Sixth Gate at nine! Just thought I’d ask, since it’d be less boring if we did it together. It’s okay if you don’t want to, though! I won’t mind._

_See you!!!!_

_Hinata_

Well, Tobio hasn’t been too good at saying no to Hinata lately, has he?

A smile rises to his lips unwittingly, and Tobio sets the letter down on the table, next to the plant. It’s only eight, so he’s still got enough time to prepare. Seeing Hinata is always nice, and frankly, Tobio’s a little excited, despite how long and arduous grocery shopping can be. Hinata always has a way of making things interesting, and he can only imagine what ridiculous thing they’ll get into today. He feels a rush through his veins, and he hums as he makes his way out of his room, beginning to get ready. The sun is shining bright through the windows, and Tobio doesn’t think he’s felt this happy in a long while.

(Later, when they’re walking back from the grocery, laughing and talking after bickering about Hinata carrying some of his bags, Tobio looks up and finds that same billboard, shining and glowing with the logo as bright as ever. And in that moment of watching it, Tobio realizes one thing _—_ that thinking about the King’s Coven doesn’t hurt anymore. And maybe it hasn’t, not for a long time now.

But before he can think about it even more, Hinata tugs at his wrist to pull him along, saying some stupid joke that makes Tobio snort, and he forgets about all of it entirely.)

* * *

“You’re doing it all wrong.”

Tobio looks up from where he’d been trying to decorate one of the new pastries. The frustration had just began to seep in under his skin because he couldn’t get it the way he wanted to—the charm placed on the bread to keep it puffy and warm was a little too strong, so it kept melting the frosting off, and the cream was more slippery than he’d like, not staying right where he wants it to.

Tobio huffs, and raises an offended eyebrow. So maybe he hasn’t gotten it down just yet, but it didn’t mean he was doing it _wrong_. There was a difference. “It’s because of your stupid heating spell,” Tobio says. “It’s too strong. It keeps melting the frosting, and it won’t stick.”

Tsukishima rolls his eyes, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. “So it’s my fault now?”

“Just cool it down a bit, would you? This one’s too hot,” Tobio tells him, already feeling a little irritated, but not so much that he’s up for starting a fight. By some miracle, he and Tsukishima had actually been getting along much better the past few months _—_ though that usually just meant they were staying out of each other’s way more, and each interaction was on the basis of indifference. Tobio didn’t mind, really, and Tsukishima didn’t seem to either. They had a mutual agreement that way, and they’ve learned to tolerate each other at best.

“I used the same spell I always do. There isn’t anything wrong with it,” Tsukishima says, taking a step closer to look at the pastries on the tray, squinting as he inspects them. “Have you tried using a different kind of frosting?”

“I already did,” Tobio replies, and he gestures over to the different kinds he’d already tested out. “None of them work because it’s _too hot._ So if you could just please cool it down _—_ ”

“Did you just say please? I didn’t know you knew how to do that _—_ ”

“Oh my god, I swear _—_ ”

“What? You’ve got nothing on me,” Tsukishima taunts, raising an eyebrow. It makes Tobio grit his teeth in annoyance, that smug look on his face, and he honestly didn’t feel like picking a fight today, but Tsukishima seems to have forgotten one small thing: that Tobio can be pretty damn good at noticing things when he wants to be, and Tsukishima isn’t as subtle as he thinks he is.

“I’ll tell Yamaguchi that you like him,” Tobio says, and it’s his turn to be smug. He tries hard not to laugh at the surprise that flickers on Tsukishima’s face, before he attempts to steel it back to something more neutral. But it’s already too late _—_ a blush lingers at the tips of his cheekbones, faint pink trailing across to reach the tips of his ears. Tobio’s hit the mark perfectly.

“I don’t know where you even got that idea,” Tsukishima says coolly, and Tobio has to admit _—_ he’d recovered fast. Then there’s just the slightest shift in his expression, back to that indifferent look, “But in the event that you do, just know that I won’t hesitate to tell Hinata about what you feel for him.”

Tobio’s eyes narrow. “You wouldn’t dare _—_ ”

“Then it seems we have a deal,” Tsukishima says. “You won’t speak of this, and neither will I.”

“Only if you cool down the pastries,” Tobio counters, mostly because he really does need to get these done, and he’s not gonna let Tsukishima think he’s won that easily. Plus, he’d been hoping that if he finished all this fast enough, he could go for an earlier break and head over to the spell shop to hang out with Hinata.

Tsukishima scowls, evidently reluctant. But then he seems to agree, bringing up a hand to wave in the air. The pastries poof up just for a moment before softening, a glow of yellow around them as the magic works its way through. After a second, Tsukishima places his hand back down, crossing his arms.

“Happy?” Tsukishima asks, and Tobio nods, satisfied.

“We have a deal,” Tobio tells the blonde, picking up one of the packets of frosting from the table.

Tsukishima seems pleased enough. “Good,” he says with a short nod.

But just as Tobio’s about to continue on with his work, the door to the bakery slams open, catching both of their attention. Honestly, at this point, with the amount of times it’s happened, Tobio really shouldn’t be all that surprised to see Hinata at the doorway, a whirlwind of bright colors, as brilliant as the sunlight streaming through their windows.

“Kageyama!” Hinata exclaims, and Tobio’s mind instantly replays anything he might’ve done wrong since he last saw Hinata _._ Yesterday afternoon, he’d sent Hinata a note in the form of a paper box (it’s the only folding he knows how to do) just to tell him a stupid joke Tobio’d known he would hate, but it’s not like it was _that_ bad _—_ he may have come up with it while he was in the shower, but he’d thought it would make Hinata laugh, and he didn’t think it would would actually cause him to storm into the bakery.

Tsukishima gives him a look, almost accusing.

“I didn’t do anything,” Tobio says quickly, before focusing back on Hinata, whos’ now running up to them. He tries to think of other stuff that would’ve pissed Hinata off, but Tobio can’t think of a single one. And it’s not like he _tries_ to annoy Hinata _—_ though he’ll admit that it’s a bit funny when he gets mad sometimes _—_ but he knows where to draw the line.

However, to his surprise, Hinata doesn’t look annoyed at all. In fact, he’s _smiling—_ big and wide and toothy, even looking excited to be here. His eyes are twinkling, and he looks as radiant as he always does. There’s no ranting or scowling or huffing or quick and sharp bantering. Though it’s true that sometimes Hinata will just come over to the bakery to tell Tobio about something stupid that had just happened, he’s never felt the need to storm in before. Tobio has no clue what’s going on.

“Kageyama!” Hinata says again, and he’s even bouncing on his toes. “I’m really happy to see you again!”

“Uh,” Tobio says, and he feels his cheeks fill with heart, his pulse already beginning to skyrocket. “I’m...happy to see you too?”

“I’m happy to see you every day!” Hinata says, and there must be something very, very wrong here, and Tobio doesn’t understand what the hell’s happening here. “You’re really interesting to talk to, and you make me laugh a lot, and sometimes when you’re thinking really hard, you get this crease right between your eyebrows, and it’s really cute, and I _—_ ”

“Hinata! There you are!” Yamaguchi says, bursting into the bakery. He rushes right up to Hinata, grabbing his arm, and giving him a stern look. “You can’t just _leave_ like that, I was so worried.” With an exasperated sigh, he pinches the bridge of his nose, and takes a deep breath. Then he turns to the counter, giving them a weak smile. “Hi, Tsukki. Hi, Kageyama. Sorry about that, but uh, Hinata _—_ he hasn’t said, um, said... _anything_ to you guys, has he? Especially you, Kageyama.”

“No?” Tobio says, his brows furrowing in confusion. But then he remembers what Hinata had said right before Yamaguchi came in, and he feels his cheeks grow warm and his mouth goes dry. Coughing, he stammers, “What do you _—_ what do you mean?”

“Well, Hinata, he sorta _—_ ”

“I told Kageyama I was happy to see him!” Hinata interrupts, still bright and grinning. “Because I am! I mean, I always am, but it’s always really nice to be around you!”

Tobio makes a strangled sound at the back of his throat, his face burning uncomfortably. “Are you _—_ are you okay?”

“I’m great,” Hinata chirps. “I am a little hungry, though. Do you have any food?”

“This is a bakery,” Tsukishima deadpans. “What do you think?”

“But I didn’t bring any money,” Hinata says with a frown. “I just wanted to see Kageyama.”

Tobio flushes. He doesn’t think he could get the words out if he wanted to _—_ he doesn’t understand a single thing that’s happening except that Hinata is acting a little weird, and he hasn’t made fun of Tobio yet in the five minutes he’s been here. Instead, he’s got the overly-bright look on his face, and that sorta thing only really comes out when he’s super excited or happy about something. Being at the bakery can’t be that _exciting_.

“Okay, fine, go pick something, I have my wallet with me. But you’re definitely paying me back later,” Yamaguchi says with another sigh, digging into his pocket.

Hinata beams. “Thanks, Yamaguchi!” he exclaims, and then he’s heading over to the shelves, a skip in his step as he goes, humming a song under his breath.

“Explain,” Tsukishima says, turning to Yamaguchi, his eyebrow raised.

Yamaguchi rubs the back of his neck, laughing a little nervously. Tobio waits for his response, hoping that it’ll clear up at least _some_ of his confusion. Hinata’s already usually bright and loud, but he’s never been that _direct_ when saying things about Tobio, and he has no clue what he’s supposed to make of it.

“Well, you see, back at the shop, there was sort of an... _accident,_ ” Yamaguchi starts to say, pressing his hands together. Slow vines begin to curl around his arms, a light green magic that sneaks up on his skin. Yamaguchi notices a moment later, and swats them away, causing them to dissolve into the air.

“What kind of accident?” asks Tobio, concerned. Both Hinata and Yamaguchi seemed to be fine physically _—_ unless something happened to Yachi? Tobio hopes not. She’s really nice, and he doesn’t want anything bad to happen to her.

“It’s nothing to worry about, really. We’re all fine,” Yamaguchi reassures them, holding up both hands. “Yachi’s out doing deliveries right now, which is why I got stuck handling Hinata.”

“And what is wrong with Hinata, exactly?” Tsukishima questions. “Is it why he’s being so…” He waves a hand around to gesture vaguely. “Like _that_?”

“You mean honest?” Yamaguchi says, and his exasperation turns a little into amusement. “It’s because he accidentally drank a truth potion.”

“A truth potion?” Tobio doesn’t really know much about those, but he has heard that they’re really hard to make, and that they can be quite the handful. They’re mostly harmless, at least, but if Hinata drank one, then the stuff he was saying _—_

His face burns.

“Yep,” Yamaguchi says. “Hinata finished the order just earlier this morning and left it on the table for when Yachi went out to deliver them. He was working on this other cleaving charm, and I guess he must’ve gotten too engrossed in it that he accidentally got his coffee and the potion mixed up. Figured it out when he wouldn’t stop going on about wanting to see _—_ ” Yamaguchi pauses, and looks over at Tobio, a bit embarrassed. “Well, wanting to see you, Kageyama.”

“Oh.” Tobio’s head is trying to wrap around the fact that first, Hinata had wanted to _see_ him, and second, Hinata had said all those _other things_ too, and he’d been nothing but truthful about them. He _meant_ them. What is he supposed to say to that?

“Well, Yachi and I were worried that his honesty might get him into trouble _—_ not that he ever really says bad things, so it’s mostly to make sure he doesn’t say anything embarrassing _—_ so I was left with watching over him. The potion should wear off on its own a couple of hours, maybe by late afternoon, so it shouldn’t take too long. In the meantime,” Yamaguchi says, glancing over to where Hinata is. “He’s going to be the most honest you’ve ever seen him.”

“The problem is,” Yamaguchi continues, “is that I have some work to do at the shop, but I have a feeling that now that he’s here, Hinata won’t want to leave.”

“Why?”

Yamaguchi gives him a look, like the answer should be obvious. “Because you’re here,” he tells Tobio, simple enough. “That’ll be enough reason for him to want to stay, wouldn’t it?”

Tsukishima crosses his arms. “So what you’re saying is that we’re going to have to deal with a Hinata that has no filter all day.”

“Just until I finish my work!” Yamaguchi says, clapping his hands together. “I’ll be as fast as possible. I’ll get you a strawberry shortcake after this, Tsukki!”

Tsukishima sighs, and it’s clear that he’s giving in. “Fine,” he says. Turning to Tobio, he adds, “But you’re going to be the one watching him, not me. If anything happens, it’s on you.”

Tobio sputters, “What _—_ why me?”

Tsukishima raises an eyebrow. “You’re the reason he’s staying, aren’t you? You watch over him.”

He sneaks a glance back over to where Hinata is, and almost like he knows, Hinata turns to look right back at him. He grins, raising a hand for a small wave before picking out something from the shelf and putting it on his tray. Tobio’s face turns pink, and he looks away, a little flustered.

“I better get going,” Yamaguchi says to the both of them. He places money on the counter for whatever Hinata’s buying.

Tsukishima hands him a freshly made cup of coffee from the side. “Here.”

“Thanks, Tsukki,” Yamaguchi says with a smile. Color blooms on the blonde’s face like an early sunset, and Tobio tries not to snicker. He nods his head, taking the warm cup in his hands. “I’ll see you guys later. Just call me if something happens!”

Once Yamaguchi leaves, Tsukishima gives Tobio a look of warning, tilting his head to motion over to where Hinata is. Then he heads for the back room, shutting the door behind him. Tobio’s lucky that Daichi and Suga are out today for a friend’s wedding, because he has a feeling that Suga wouldn’t stop teasing him about this if he were here.

He takes a deep breath. Hinata had taken a truth potion, which means that everything he says will come straight out of his mouth without thinking too much. Tobio can handle that _—_ Hinata’s always honest anyway, and he already has a habit of saying whatever random thing that just pops into his head, so it might not even be that obvious. Maybe it won’t even affect either of them all that much.

Why is he worrying about this so much anyway? It’ll be funny if Hinata ends up saying some really embarrassing stuff that Tobio can use to tease him once the potion wears off, so Tobio decides to focus on that instead. Okay, maybe he won’t try to fish for anything _too_ embarrassing that’ll make Hinata mad, but something good enough that Tobio’ll get a kick out of it.

Hinata’s in front of the counter by the time Tobio’s finished cleaning up one of the spills from earlier, all smiles and cheery eyes. He’s got a tray full of chocolate cinnamon rolls, rocking back and forth on his toes, and at first glance it really isn’t like anything’s different from the usual. But Tobio’s also come to know Hinata a little better, and it’s almost like the way he’s looking isn’t holding anything back at all, as though the potion had dissolved some barrier that made him even more expressive than he normally was _—_ and Hinata already wore his heart on his sleeve well enough.

“Um, hi,” Tobio says, the uncertainty laced in his voice. He’s not really sure how he’s supposed to proceed with this _—_ there isn’t some sort of manual for this, is there? A guidebook to tell you how to react when your friend is under the influence of a truth potion? “Yamaguchi already paid before he left, so you can just go ahead.”

“Oh,” Hinata says. In one fluid movement, he slips behind the counter to stand next to Tobio, placing his plate onto the side, where it’s a much more open space. Resting his elbows on it, he picks up the fork and knife, and starts to eat.

“What are you doing? You’re supposed to sit at one of the tables,” Tobio tells him, a little incredulous. “You can’t eat here.”

Hinata raises an eyebrow. “But you eat here all the time!”

“What _—_ that’s because I work here, dumbass,” Tobio says. “Wouldn’t it be better to actually sit down while you ate?”

“But then how am I supposed to talk to you?” Hinata asks, all simple and innocent _—_ and the worst part of it all is that it actually seems _genuine_ , no teasing or some hidden motive. “If I sit at the tables, I’ll be too far.”

“Yeah, but it’s not like I’m going anywhere,” he tells Hinata, shrugging his shoulders. “I’ll still be here.” He takes a couple steps closer to tug Hinata’s utensils, setting them back on his plate. “Go eat properly. And when you’re done we can talk about whatever stupid thing you want.”

“My thoughts aren’t stupid,” Hinata grumbles, but he listens anyway, picking up his plate and walking back over to the other side of the counter.

Tobio snorts. “And that time you were going on about aliens doesn’t count as stupid?”

“Nope!” Hinata says back, all confident and grinning. “And I’m totally gonna convince you when I finish! You’ll see, Bakageyama!”

“We’ll see about that,” he retorts back as he makes his way back to the display section, picking up the frosting packet again. He’ll try to get as many done as he can before Hinata’’s done, because the redhead can be pretty distracting when he wants to be, and Tobio’s always had a bad habit of shifting all his attention to Hinata whenever he’s nearby. “Oi, get some of the other healthier stuff too, would you? You need to eat well.”

Hinata seems to smile at that. “Hey, Kageyama.”

Tobio looks up from where he’d begun frosting the pastry. “Yeah?”

“You’re really nice, you know? Even if you don’t show it that often,” Hinata says, and there’s not a single hint of a joke, no punchline _—_ just honesty that seeps through, unyielding and true. “That’s probably why I like you so much.”

Tobio blinks.

But before he can even get a word out, Hinata turns around and heads for one of the tables. He picks one close to the windows, where the daylight falls on his skin to blend with him, golden and infinite. Tobio stares, unmoving, and he swears that his mind has just ceased all function, unable to comprehend even just a single thing.

It’s _—_ it’s probably just the potion, isn’t it? He’d just been speaking the first thing that popped into his head, and Tobio doubts that Hinata had meant it _that_ way. Hinata generally likes all kinds of people, Tobio knows, and perhaps it’s by some luck that Tobio had been included in that range. They’re pretty good friends now, after all, they talk often, and Hinata had said that he wanted to see him. Because they’re friends. That’s probably all there is to it.

Tobio wishes there was more though. He’d like it if there was more.

Shaking these thoughts out of his head, Tobio forces himself to focus back on his task. The pastries are cool enough that the frosting sticks well now, and with steady hands and careful fingers he applies the design he has in mind. Suga had approved of it when Tobio showed it to him, which made him pretty happy. He’d actually ran it through Hinata first as some sort of taste-tester, though he was already pretty confident about it. Maybe it was just an excuse to see him, really, but Tobio doesn’t even think to try and deny it anymore _._ At the end of it all, the truth is that he’s just as bad _—_ he wants to see Hinata too.

It takes a lot of willpower not to look up and glance over at him right now. Tobio bites the inside of his cheek and forces himself to keep going. It’s simple enough, and it doesn’t take too long to finish one. Soon after, the pastries are all lined up, decorated neatly and carefully. Taking a quick visit to the backroom, Tobio takes a couple of the display boxes, and brings them back outside. He moves fast enough, placing them all inside and stacking the boxes all together. When he’s finished, he takes a couple moments to clean up, organizing everything back up and wiping the table. A new customer enters the bakery just as he makes his way back to the register, taking their orders and receiving the money.

“Okay, so,” Hinata says in lieu of a greeting, walking over to the end where Tobio is. “Aliens.”

“Aliens,” Tobio repeats, and he can already tell where this is going to go, mentally preparing his arguments, ready to feel that soft exasperation that always comes around when Hinata goes on about ridiculous stuff like this. Maybe he could even call it fond, but he’s not quite sure if he’s allowed for something like that just yet. “Alright, do your worst. I can take it.”

Hinata grins, so bright and warm, and even when he looks a little like the gremlin that he is, it still somehow manages to make Tobio’s stomach feel all funny, the butterflies inside him taking flight and beating against his ribcage. He knows the feeling well enough by now, but it still leaves him stuttering even now, and Tobio wonders if this is what people mean when they say they love the summer, the way the sun falls into their skin, leaves them blinded but warm.

If that’s already what it’s like to yearn for the summer, what would it feel like to be loved by it in return?

Hinata clears his throat, and takes a deep breath. Tobio resists the urge to roll his eyes. “Okay, so like I said before…”

Tobio listens on as Hinata goes on about his stupid conviction that aliens are _definitely, absolutely, and completely real, Kageyama, I just know it._ It doesn’t take long for them to fall into their usual back-and-forth bickering, and it really isn’t like much is different at all. There are even lapses when Tobio almost forgets all about the truth potion because of how normal it all feels _. Almost_ , because every now and then Hinata will say something that catches Tobio off-guard, overwhelmed by the sudden honesty, hitting him like a freight train. His words come without warning, slipping right into the conversation so seamlessly that it startles him to find them between the spaces, and he’s thrown off by the sincerity they hold. Some of them are just bits of Hinata’s weirder ramblings, like how he thinks there’s only one right way to eat bananas (the answer of which Tobio is too afraid to ask), but it’s the _other things_ that get to him, causing his his heart to trip on its feet just trying to keep up with all of it.

It’s things like Hinata suddenly stopping in the middle of some tirade about the complete injustice of his lack in height to look right at Tobio just to say _your eyes look just like the sky,_ then to continue on like he hadn’t said anything at all. It’s Hinata making some stupid joke about blueberries that makes Tobio laugh more than he probably should, and Hinata grinning right back at him and saying, _I think laughter suits you more than anything else does._ It’s Hinata looking at Tobio when a short silence finds them, a strange look on his face, breaking the quiet for just a moment to tell him _I like hanging out with you a lot._ It’s Hinata being nothing but honest when he tells Tobio these things, and Tobio doesn’t know what to do with them, what to say back or where to hold them, if this is supposed to mean something the way he wants it to, or if he’s better off just tucking them away for safekeeping. He doesn’t know how to handle all the compliments and the sincerity. He doesn’t know, and it’s so confusing and strange, and it makes him feel all fuzzy and flustered, and he really wishes Hinata would stop looking at him like _that_. If it is honesty that builds him now, what does it mean that these words have found Tobio’s heart? When the truth is all Hinata can offer, but promises are the only things Tobio knows how to give in return?

Tobio doesn’t know what to do. But he’s seen his love before, and he thinks that it could belong to Hinata.

“ _—_ so that’s why I think sunny side up eggs are okay to eat with ketchup sometimes,” Hinata finishes saying, cutting out a bit of tape and holding it up. Tobio wrinkles his nose at the thought of it, but does well not to show his distaste too much _—_ knowing Hinata, he’d make Tobio try it just to try and prove his point.

Tobio takes the strip of tape, using it to stick up one of the new flyers onto the glass window. He leaves his hand out for another, and Hinata hands him another. “I still don’t think it’ll taste that good,” he tells Hinata. “But you did make some slightly okay points.”

“All my points were fantastic!” Hinata argues back. The next tape he hands over to Tobio is purposely too short. “Sometimes you just gotta try something new, Kageyama! Add a little flavor to your life!”

“When people usually say that, I don’t think they’re talking about mixing your food together,” he says back, raising an eyebrow at him. He finishes up taping the flyer, lowering his hands back down to his sides. “How’s it look?”

“Looks really slanted to me. Do it over again.”

Tobio swipes at him, but Hinata dodges it effortlessly, much to his slight irritation.

“Okay, okay, I was kidding. It looks fine,” Hinata says with a soft laugh. There’s tape stuck all over his arms, and even one on his cheek, all haphazardly stuck to his skin. He squints upwards, looking back and forth between the flyer and Tobio. “Man, you’re really tall, Kageyama. Has anyone ever told you that?”

“No, you’re definitely the first,” Tobio says dryly, a little sarcastic. He hears Hinata huff out another laugh, rolling his eyes.

“Hey, have you ever thought about different universes?” Hinata asks, following Tobio back to the counter. There, Tobio starts preparing two cups of warm milk, one plain and the other chocolate. The bakery is slowly clearing out of people now that it’s getting late, so he doesn’t have to worry much about serving anyone else.

“What do you mean?” Tobio asks, adding a little bit of whipped cream over the chocolate one. He’s never been too good at those decorative cups, but with the careful motions of his hand, he manages to make the cream on top resemble a flower. It’s still a really simple one, but it’s not as bad as the first time he’d tried it.

“Like, you know,” Hinata says, waving a hand around. “Different universes where things are different. Like where you’re the short one and I’m the tall one. With magic, it’s easily possible, isn’t it?”

“I guess so,” Tobio says with a shrug. There’d been some research going on for that back at the Coven, but he never paid too much attention to it. There was too much statistics and probability involved, and Tobio tries to avoid that kind of stuff whenever he can. “What about them?”

“Well, it makes you think, doesn’t it? Like there’s a universe out there where you’re, I dunno, maybe like a circus performer, and I’m a really cool superstar.”

“Wait, why am I a circus performer?” Tobio asks him, sliding the hot chocolate over to Hinata, who takes it from him gratefully. “Can’t I be the cool superstar?”

“Clowns can be cool too, Kageyama,” Hinata says back, before frowning a little. “Okay, maybe not really. But that’s why I said maybe! Anything could happen in a different universe. Just think about it.”

Tobio considers it, dreaming up different scenarios, like ones where he’s a farmer or a Seer, or maybe just a normal guy in a world with no magic. That last one is quite wild to him _—_ he can’t really imagine being without magic, not when he’s spent all of his life learning it.

“Hey,” Hinata says, his voice a little softer than usual, poking at Tobio’s arm. Tobio’s come to associate it with the honesty that spills out of him unapologetically today, and he holds his breath, waiting for what’s to come this time around. “That means there’s a universe out there where _we’re_ different. Where we never met at all.”

Tobio frowns. He doesn’t like the idea of that one very much. “Or one we met earlier,” he supplies. He’s thought about this one before, timing and stumbling, and he hasn’t quite found his answer just yet. There’s a part of him that’s tugging at his mouth and throat, insistent, and Tobio wonders if it’s his turn to let just a bit of honesty come through just for a moment. “Maybe I’m better there. In that universe. If I had met you earlier.”

Hinata shakes his head almost immediately, and places a gentle hand on Tobio’s arm. It feels electrifying. “That’s not true,” he says, smiling right at Tobio. “You’re good in any universe that finds you. I think we met at just the right time.”

And _oh,_ there’s his answer, isn’t it? That there’s no _earlier_ or _later,_ but just the moment they’d found themselves in, in this timeline where they are an accumulation of all the mistakes and accomplishments they’ve made. Where somehow they’d found each other, and that’s all that matters in the end.

“I’d make sure we’d meet in any universe,” Hinata says, genuine and sincere. “I’d make sure that I know you, and you know me. Just like what we’re doing now.”

“I’d like that,” Tobio says after a moment, thankful that he’d managed the words out for Hinata to hear. Hinata’s smile widens, and he gently squeezes his hold on Tobio’s arm once before letting go.

The bell jingles, signalling that the last customer has finally left, and the moonlight drips in through their windows now, silver and melted, the stars like waypoints in the sky. Tsukishima’s quick to get started on clean-up, and the rest of the place is already pretty tidy. There’s not much left to do but lock up, and that’s Tsukishima’s responsibility today.

Tobio frowns. A couple hours ago, Yamaguchi had told Tsukishima that a couple of new orders came up, and he had to do some deliveries too, so he couldn’t make it back as fast as he originally wanted. Tobio didn’t mind, since Hinata wasn’t _that_ much different (he could handle it _—_ mostly), but he’s not sure what to do now. He’s heard that one of the side effects of the truth potion is that it causes the person to become sleepy when it begins to wear off, and he’d really rather not send Hinata home on his own where he might just pass out in the middle of the street.

(Okay, maybe Tobio’s a bit dramatic, but he still worries.)

He doesn’t really want Hinata to have to go alone.

“Yamaguchi says he’s still out delivering orders,” Tsukishima tells Tobio when he walks out, his things all packed and the keyring around his finger. “The truth potion should be wearing off soon.”

“But what about Hinata?” Tobio asks. “I don’t think it’s safe for him to go alone.”

“I can handle myself,” Hinata objects, sticking out his tongue. crossing his arms. “I’m fine!”

“I never said you couldn’t,” Tobio says, and under normal circumstances he wouldn’t really bother _—_ but something just doesn’t sit right with him about having Hinata go alone. “But just in case.”

“Then why don’t you go with him?” Tsukishima says simply. “Yamaguchi won’t be finished for a while, and you’re supposed to be in charge of him anyway, remember?”

“I _—_ ”

“Really?” Hinata exclaims, swirling around to face Tobio, all eager and excited. “Kageyama, you should come with me!”

Tobio sighs. Tsukishima does have a point, and there really isn’t a better way to make sure Hinata’s safe than to be there himself. The problem is that he’s never been to Hinata’s house before, and doing so feels a little like taking another step towards some strange unknown. He’ll admit that he _is_ a little curious, though, to see where Hinata lives. And then again, if Hinata’s the one asking, then Tobio’s hasn’t been great at saying no to him lately. A few more minutes with Hinata wouldn’t hurt either _—_ in fact, Tobio doesn’t think he’d mind that at all.

“Okay,” he says after a moment, trying not to feel too overwhelmed. He fakes casual, shrugging his shoulders. Turning to Hinata, he says, “I’ll walk with you.”

Hinata grins, all bright and sunny despite the night, and Tobio feels all his insides melt at once. Ah, shit.

With Tsukishima in charge of locking up, he and Hinata leave shortly after that. Tobio slings his bag over his shoulder as he pushes the door open, holding it until Hinata walks through, and closing it behind him. The night air is colder now that winter’s coming along, and the daylight hours are shorter. It kind of makes him miss the times when the sunset would come by later into the evening, the pink-purple sky a backdrop that bleeds through the bakery windows, and it’ll almost feel like it’s reflecting back onto his own skin. It’s a kind of weather he could never dream to recreate, the kind only nature can do, and all that’s there for him is to watch, memorize the colors and their descent. He can’t count the number of times it’s reminded him right of the boy next to him, all morning light smiles and sunset eyes, his hair just as fiery and golden as the last fight of the day. Maybe that’s another reason why he likes it so much, because of what it reminds him of.

Hinata sways a little as he walks, crossing his feet over one another like a little kid, hopping over the cracks. It’s a little funny, Tobio thinks, how even though he has longer legs, he’s the one who’s trying to keep up with Hinata. It’s a strange thing, but it seems to fit just right between them when he thinks about Hinata’s seemingly boundless energy. Even when nightfall’s found them he’s still going strong, like the gold of the night. And like this, with Hinata walking beside him under the stars, it almost feels like they’ve done this a hundred times before already, in a different time. Maybe somewhere in another different universe like Hinata had been talking about. Maybe, Tobio thinks, maybe that’s why Hinata had always been so familiar to him _—_ because there are other universes where they are true and honest, and their fates have intertwined a thousand times over before this one. That he’s known Hinata before, recognized him instead of meeting him, knowing of a heart that did not belong to him before he even realized it. He knows that it’s foolish, and there’s a slim chance of that actually being real _—_ but it’s a nice thought. It’s a nice thought and it blooms something warm inside of him, and Tobio decides that he might hold onto it after all.

Tobio can see the Gates from where they are, shining even in the dark, a few people milling around with them. The city lights are bright and unapologetic as they make their descent towards the cobblestone pavements, and it’s almost like an explosion of color, like fireworks on a ground level, bursting from the seams to fall right into the people, dancing on eyes and skin. He looks over at Hinata and finds a kaleidoscope of a boy, and he swears that it’s just like magic, the way he looks, like a fallen galaxy. There’s a sudden sharp ache in Tobio’s chest, filling him with a longing he doesn’t know how to handle, and he tries to swallow it back down, trying to hide it away before Hinata can see. But it aches and it wonders and it wants, and it makes Tobio feel the urge and take Hinata’s hand in his, just to hold onto a bit of that warmth, to see what it would be like to hold the last relic of summer. And it’s overwhelming, just how much stronger this feeling is compared to the fear that’s lived inside of him for so long, and Tobio almost slips _—_ almost gives in and his fingers twitch when their hands brush, and it’s painful and it’s excruciating but he _can’t_ , not yet, because there are a hundred reasons not to _._

Because you always need a reason to want something, don’t you? Tobio doesn’t have the words for something like this.

“Hey, Kageyama. Can I ask you something?” Hinata says, looking up at him just as they cross the Gates, that tingling sensation running through his veins, a distant touch of old magic. They break through on the other side, and the cityscape shifts beyond them, into something less bright and filled with dancing shadows, the lampposts glowing like the stars of the moon.

Tobio shrugs. “Sure.”

“What happens after this?” Hinata says, and it’s a little more quiet now, the muffled sounds of the busy city behind them. Here, the wind gives way for him to speak, the trees swaying softly around the bricked walls of the houses on the street. It isn’t a place for hiding.

“What do you mean?”

“After this,” Hinata repeats, gesturing vaguely. “Once you...once you get back on your feet or something, what happens? Are you gonna try to join the Coven again?”

Tobio blinks. He knows Hinata is probably still under the truth potion, so he’s probably just speaking whatever’s on his mind, but he can’t think of what might’ve brought it up. “Why are you asking?”

“I didn’t _—_ I mean, I’m only assuming, so I might be wrong _—_ but the bakery, I know it’s not exactly what you wanted to do. It’s far from your dream, and I guess I just thought _—_ it’s not like you’re planning on staying here forever, are you?” Hinata says, almost all in one breath, like the honesty is pushing the words outward before he can try to stop them.

“Oh,” Tobio says. To be honest, he hasn’t really thought about that. There were a few times when he started out at the bakery, when he believed he’d find his way back in _—_ but things have changed since then. He’s figuring out what magic means all over again, and it’s a slow process, but it’s all that he has now. And with Hinata there to help him out, it isn’t so bad. It’s _fun_ , and he’s learning that maybe that’s the whole point of it. He hasn’t really thought of what lies beyond, and he doesn’t really have any ideas of somewhere else he’d like to be. Maybe one day, but for now, the bakery is nice, Daichi and Suga are kind to him, Tsukishima is tolerable, and of course _—_ there’s Hinata. Tobio doesn’t hate it, not in the slightest. He can see himself sticking around for a little while longer.

“I haven’t really thought about it,” he answers honestly, tucking his hands into his pockets. “But I don’t think I’m going to go back. The Coven _—_ it isn’t my dream. Not anymore.”

Hinata’s eyes widen a little in surprise. “It isn’t?”

“No.” Tobio shakes his head. “I don’t _—_ I don’t think I’d go back there, even if they asked me to.”

“Then _—_ ” Hinata says before cutting himself off, pressing his lips together. His voice is softer, smaller, when he continues, almost as though he’s afraid to say it. “Your dream now, what is it?”

Tobio looks at Hinata, the summer boy in front of him, an indescribable emotion filling up his chest with an ache, and tries not to let a confession spill out of his lips. “I don’t know yet,” he says instead, a lie right on his tongue, voice a little strained. “I guess I’m still looking for one.”

“So does that mean you’re staying?” Hinata asks, and Tobio thinks it almost sounds _hopeful_. “Until you find something new to try for?”

Tobio thinks about how he’d been looking for something interesting the moment he’d started in the bakery, and how he’d found the boy from the spell shop next door, with eyes that looked like coming home. He thinks about how he’s already found it.

“You could say that,” Tobio says, and a part of him wishes he could just tell Hinata the truth _—_ a bit guilty, even, that Hinata can be nothing but truthful right now but Tobio is still holding pieces of his heart back, trying to keep Hinata from finding it. It’s not fair, Tobio knows, but he is standing on the edge of a cliff, and how is he to know what lies at the bottom?

Hinata is silent for a moment, and there’s that strange look on his face, like he’s staring right at something he can't have or understand. “But what if you found something here instead?” he says suddenly, almost insistent. “Something to stay for?”

Tobio looks at him. “Like what?”

“Like me,” Hinata says, loud and clear and _sincere_ , and it makes Tobio’s eyes widen in surprise. Hinata takes a step closer, releasing a deep breath. He looks at Kageyama straight in the eyes, intense and bleeding honesty all over the place. “What if I became a reason for you to stay?”

Oh.

Nobody’s ever asked Tobio to stay before.

He takes a deep breath, his heart thundering his chest, the pulse so loud he can hear it in his ears, like a drumbeat to an invisible rhythm. What is he supposed to say to that? He can’t tell Hinata that he’d already become a reason without even knowing it, that Tobio would stay even if he hadn’t asked. That he gives Tobio something to believe in, and Tobio’s starting to think it’s called love.

He can’t say that. Not yet.

So instead, he looks back at Hinata with all the courage that he has, and tries to keep himself steady in the aftermath. “If you want me to,” Tobio tells him. “I’ll stay.”

Hinata smiles, and it’s almost like the sun is breaking through the clouds even on this almost-winter night, enveloping Tobio in a warmth he knows he can’t find anywhere else but here, in the space that holds them apart. “I’d like that,” Hinata says, voice soft and filled with something Tobio can’t name, something familiar but can only be felt, and it shines through louder than anything else. “I’d really, really like that.”

Tobio feels a blush threaten to grace his cheeks at Hinata’s bluntness, and he looks away, staring at the ground, finding a rock to kick around with his toe. “Dumbass,” he mutters, because he can’t find anything else, and he holds it out like his last defense against his stuttering heart.

Hinata laughs, and it’s like a wisp that floats back into the night sky. Tobio sneaks a glance over at him, and he can’t stop that feeling of longing that builds right up in his chest in an instant, reaching up all the way to his throat until he feels like he can’t breath. It would be a hundred times easier, he thinks, if they were young again. Maybe then they’d both be a little more reckless, a lot more foolish, and Tobio would chase after this love despite the drop, follow it to the ends of his earth. But they are how they are now _—_ with shaky hands and long lost heartbeats, something delicate between them. Hinata has given Tobio something to hold on to _—_ but it’s also something to lose, and if there is anything Tobio knows more, it is the feeling of something precious slipping right out of your fingers. Is it even right for him to feel this way? Is he allowed to want something like this?

Because being with Hinata is like seeing lightning strike the same place twice, and Tobio knows the chances of that happening more than anyone else does. He knows how rare it is, how _impossible_ it is. He knows it’s a shot in the dark, a wildcard, but he also doesn’t think he’s ever wanted anything more in his whole life. Would that be too much to ask for? Just a moment to hold it inside of him? Even if it’s not for long, just for it to be real?

Would Hinata have ever asked him, if not for the truth potion?

“You’re doing it again,” Hinata says suddenly, startling Tobio out of his thoughts. He stops from where he’d been walking, and a yawn tugs on his lips before he frowns a little.

“Doing what?” Tobio asks.

“Getting lost somewhere in your head. To that far away place,” Hinata says, and it makes Tobio recall a conversation they had from before, back when the gold had painted them a little more invincible, lighting passed to the hands of a summer boy and a peculiarity of a plant given to a boy of storms. “There’s so much of you, Kageyama. You could always give some of it to me, remember?”

Tobio presses his lips together, unsure of what to say. Hinata always has this way of making him feel like he could be a heart bleeding open. Sometimes it’s like Hinata can read him like an open book, understand him so well that he finds the words Tobio can’t. It’s a little hard to hide when it’s like this, when the space inside him has been carved open and wide for Hinata to fit right in. Harder even, that Tobio had emptied out this space himself.

“What were you thinking about?” Hinata asks, pressing gently. He can be pretty nosy sometimes, but here he’s holding back a bit, careful of the invisible lines they’ve yet to break.

Tobio swallows, and debates his honesty. A part of him feels like it could make up a little, for the things he holds back. He doesn’t need to say the whole truth _—_ he doesn’t think he could even if he wanted to _—_ but just a bit of it. Give some of himself away, just like Hinata said. Hinata would take care of it, Tobio thinks.

“You,” Tobio says, and his heart is pounding in his ears, louder than the crickets and the cicadas and the wind.

Hinata blinks, surprised, and his curiosity grows. “What about me?”

“What does it feel like? The truth potion?” Tobio asks him, and he finds his grounding, starting to walk again.

“Hm,” Hinata says, considering. Another yawn escapes his lips, and it really must be getting late. “Well, it doesn’t really feel like anything? A bit freer, though, I suppose, like I’m not afraid of anything at all. I can say anything I want and it just comes out. ”

“So does that mean…” Tobio begins to say. This part here is the tricky bit, because Tobio doesn’t have the truth potion like Hinata does, and words have never been his strongest suit. “Does that mean that there are things you said today that you normally never would’ve said at all?”

Tobio’s heart leaps to his throat while he waits for Hinata’s response, holding his breath.

“I guess so,” Hinata says, tilting his head a little as he thinks. “Like the weird stuff, you know, like when I told you about my gross encounter with spaghetti that one time, or about the moon being cheese thing. You probably didn’t need to hear that kinda stuff.”

Hinata directs his gaze back up to Tobio, and the moon shines a smile on his face. “But the other things,” he continues, and there’s that look again. “The ones about you, especially _—_ they’re stuff I think about all the time, and I think the potion just helped me be a bit braver to say them. I don’t regret it, telling you those kinds of things. I meant them.” He grins, soft and kind. “That’s what you’re worried about, isn’t it? That I wouldn’t have said all of that otherwise?”

Tobio doesn’t know what to say. How had Hinata known so easily? Has Tobio become so easy to read? Or has Hinata come to learn his heart so well that almost nothing left stands between them?

“Well, I’m glad I did,” Hinata says. “And I really do want you to stay, if that’s okay with you.”

Tobio flushes. “I already said I would, didn’t I?” he says, his cheeks burning. “I don’t plan on going anywhere.”

Hinata breathes out a soft laugh, an echo of the sunset. “Good,” he says, smiling. “Because I like you a lot, Kageyama, Tobio.”

He freezes. “Hinata, what _—_ ”

“This is me,” Hinata says suddenly, stopping right at the front of a small house, the lights inside switched on. Tobio stares right at him, completely bewildered. What exactly just happened?

“Oh,” Tobio manages to say back, his mind still reeling from the rush of Hinata’s words, still trying to figure out what it means. Could it just be like earlier, when Hinata had let another _I like you_ slip from his mouth, only for Tobio to understand that it didn’t really mean anything more? He thinks it might just be like that again, but this one had felt like there was a different weight to it, something gravity could not shape, and he might just be imaging it, the hopeful, lovelorn and tired boy he is, but Tobio swears that this one was different. This one was real. And it might just be the part of him that knows nothing but to yearn, but Tobio wants to think that it was something. He wants there to be something.

But does Hinata? Does he want it too?

Tobio wonders if Hinata knows what he’s doing by saying these things. Wonders if Hinata knows that he is becoming undone, unraveling, that he can only hope Hinata will still want whatever’s left. Wonders if the future Hinata had asked him to stay for includes them in it, where the distance they hold between each other is overcome by the weight of matters of the heart.

“Sorry, what were you going to say?” Hinata says, apologetic, his eyes bright and open. Still honest, even when another yawn escapes him, gentle like the night. It’s like he doesn’t realize what he’d said at all, and maybe he doesn’t, the truth potion spilling out words before he can think them through.

Tobio bites the inside of his cheek. This is probably not the time or place for things like these, and too much hangs in the balance. And the truth is _—_ Tobio is _afraid_. He’s afraid of what’ll happen if Hinata tells him the answer, only for him to learn that it truly had been nothing more. He’s scared of what it’ll mean not to just have no hope at all, but to learn to live with it, because if there is anything Tobio knows to do, it is to keep promises. And he knows that even if it hurt, even if he was wrong, he would still stay, because his love has always been stronger than his grief. For Hinata, he would stick around, just to see the life he could build around him and the world that’s been shaped around him. One day he knows his time will be up _—_ his skin was never made for stationary bones, and a restless heart cannot be tamed _—_ and he will find himself somewhere else, but for now, it’s what he wants. Tobio wants to stay.

He’s just not ready to tell the truth of why.

“It’s nothing,” Tobio says, shaking his head. Hinata doesn’t look all that convinced, but he lets it drop, nodding.

“Natsu’s probably waiting for me,” Hinata tells Tobio, and there’s just the slightest shift in the air, a bit awkward and nervous. “Thanks for coming with me, Kageyama.”

“It’s no problem,” he says with a light shrug. “I don’t really live too far from here anyway.”

Hintata smiles a little. “Well, I’ll see you tomorrow, Kageyama.”

“Yeah,” Tobio says back. “Make sure you drink a lot of water _—_ I’ve heard it helps after the potion wears off. And get lots of rest.”

“I will,” Hinata tells him, and he looks so pretty under the moonlight that Tobio thinks it’s terribly unfair. He thinks that if someone were to tell him to look at the moon he would choose to find Hinata instead, filled with a longing he cannot bear. Silver touches on the golden boy of magic, heaven sent and warmth granted. He’s absolutely breathtaking. “I’ll bring that book I was talking to you about earlier, and we can see who got the ending right once and for all.”

He snorts. “It’s obviously me, dumbass.”

Hinata rolls his eyes. “We’ll see about that, Bakageyama.”

Tobio feels his lips tug upward into a smile. “I better get going. Good night, stupid.”

Hinata sticks his tongue out. Tobio’s just about to turn around and leave when he feels a pull on his arm, and before he knows it, Hinata is jumping up on his toes to press a light kiss to Tobio’s cheek, quick and easy. “Good night, stupid,” Hinata says back, a grin on his face.

Before he can say anything else, though, Hinata waves at him, and pulls the door open, disappearing inside the house without another word. Tobio feels his face burn, and with a shaky hand, he holds it up to his cheek, disbelieving. The skin still tingles from where Hinata had kissed it, and Tobio thinks he’s ceased all function, his heart stopping in his chest. _Holy shit_ , he thinks. He can’t believe that just happened.

He’s got a lot to think about, but he can’t seem to focus on any part of it at all. As he stumbles his way back home, still all dizzy and fuzzy inside, Tobio can’t see anything besides Hinata, his freckles like the stars and touch like the sky, eyes like the home Tobio makes it back to. He’d been given a flicker of warmth, and all Tobio knows is that he wants more of it, wants to hold and be held. He wants to touch the sun and let it know him, to be the place where the sun sets to when it disappears from the horizon. Tobio closes his eyes and all he can see is Hinata, and all he really knows is that he wants to be with him for longer than just the present. He wants Hinata in a way that is young and reckless and foolish, in a way that is simple and delicate and messy. He wants him despite his chances. Because at the end of the day _—_ isn’t that what love is about? To make yourself into something deserving of it? To find it and want nothing more but to keep it, for it to be nothing like you but everything you’ve ever wanted? Isn’t that what Hinata had meant when he asked Tobio to stay? Isn’t that what Tobio meant when he promised he would?

Tobio hopes so. He really hopes so.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> you can find me on [tumblr!](https://superish.tumblr.com) thank you so much for reading!! <3


	4. everything has changed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I did not meet you. I recognized you.

There’s a dandelion.

Tobio stares at the flower on the ground, standing tall and proud, barely even reaching his knees. It’s white and puffy, a long time away from spring, swaying gently with the mellow gust of wind that presses against his skin, feather-light. It almost looks like it’s glowing, even, a little reminiscent of when he was younger, chasing them in fields until he finds his way back home. And it’s strange, Tobio thinks, that it’s here, as alive as it can be. Winter’s finally come around, and there’s nothing else here but that one dandelion, alone on the patch of grass. It’s odd for it still to be here, the last one standing, and he can’t help but fixate on it in wonder.

Dandelions are known for granting wishes, aren’t they? Childish ones, maybe, but wishes nonetheless, and Tobio has more hope living inside of him than he knows what to do with. He doesn’t actually know if they’ve got to do anything with magic at all, but the stories have got to come from somewhere. Hinata would know, Tobio thinks. He always seems to know even the strangest things, like he’s got the secrets of the universe written on his palms, and if Tobio were to ask, Hinata would have the answer. He’d know all about these, about wishes and if they were magic, if they could make what Tobio asks to be real. And wouldn’t that just be funny? That he’d know all these things but not the truth, that whatever Tobio was wishing for was already there right beside him.

Tobio sighs. It always comes back to Hinata Shouyou, doesn’t it?

Figuring that he hasn’t got much left to lose, Tobio moves to crouch down. But before he even gets to take a step forward, the wind blows, a cold gust of air, and the dandelion bursts, floating right to follow where the wind goes. Tobio watches it leave before he’s even able to say a single word, a stolen wish, and wonders if this is a sign for bad luck or some sort. He’s never been one to believe much in things like those, but it wouldn’t hurt, he believes to have the odds on his side. For all he knows he needs as much luck as he can get.

But then again, luck can only get you so far. Everything else is still up to you.

“ _—_ but that might be too far from here, right? Tobio? Are you still listening?”

Tobio blinks, tearing his gaze away from what’s left of the dandelion, shaken away by the breeze. “Sorry,” he says, shrugging his shoulders. “What’s too far?”

Miwa shakes her head, sighing a little. “The market,” she answers, putting a hand on her hip. Her short hair blows gently in the wind, her chin tucked into her scarf to keep her from the cold. “There’s a couple things I need to buy while we’re out, but it might be too long of a walk.”

“I don’t mind,” Tobio tells her simply. “We can go there if you want to.”

“Thanks,” Miwa says, her smile appreciative. She eyes him a little curiously, pursing her lips together. “You know,” she says, tone light as she finds her pacing next to him, crossing the street with her head held high. Back when they were younger, Tobio had always made sure to hang on to her whenever they were out on the streets, afraid that the currents would sweep him away, or that he would lose his footing on the floating pedestrian walkways and fall. “You’ve been a bit distracted this whole time. Is everything alright?”

Tobio averts his gaze, an easy blush coming to rest on his cheeks. Though it’s been a while since they’ve properly hung out like this, he supposes that there’s some sort of sibling thing there, that Miwa can see right through him even by just the slightest feeling. “Everything’s fine,” he mumbles out, careful not to make eye contact. She’s always known him well, after all.

Miwa hums, sounding a little unconvinced, but she doesn’t press. A part of Tobio figures she’ll probably ask a bit more about it later if he doesn’t hide it better, but Miwa’s always been a bit more nosy when it came to him, so he’ll probably find himself saying everything later anyway. Tobio hopes that it won’t have to come to that because frankly, it’s _embarrassing_ , and Miwa really doesn’t need another thing to tease him with.

They pass by a train station, the sound loud against the railings as it climbs upward into the sky and disappears through one of the Gates, onwards to someplace farther, where the skyline is different and the time rewinds itself. It’s a lot more busy around here with people coming and going, and with the holidays approaching, there’s even more of a reason to head back home as winter comes to frost them over. It’s one of Tobio’s day-offs today, and Miwa had written to say she was coming for a visit for once, and Tobio had agreed to see her. It’s always nice to see Miwa, even if one her favorite pastimes is teasing him relentlessly.

“How’s work?” Tobio asks, rubbing his hands together. He really should’ve worn gloves _—_ he doesn’t do great in cold weather, and he really ought to have learned by now. He probably should’ve brought a scarf while he was at it, since his jacket isn’t really helping much. He could probably make a small heat wave to keep himself warm, but it’s always been a little tricky to go against too much of the natural.

Without even looking, Miwa tugs off one of her gloves, and hands it over to Tobio, almost as though she’d already known. Tobio nods and slips it on, pressing his hands together in an attempt to get closer to warmth.

“It’s been really good,” she says, sounding both pleased and proud. “I’ve figured out a new spell that helps make hair less frizzy after it’s been charmed, and it’s been pretty successful.”

“That’s great,” Tobio says, minding his steps as they cross a bridge, the path a little uneven. It takes them higher up into the sky, and he makes sure to keep his steps light just in case. The road is made of something close to hard glass, and he can see the people and buildings below him as he walks, almost as though he’s floating right in the air. Things like these have always made him a little wary, and he makes sure to stick a little closer to Miwa as they go.

Miwa notices, huffing out a small laugh, but she doesn’t move away, even linking their arms together like when they were kids. “You haven’t changed at all, have you?” she muses, and Tobio rolls his eyes, bumping against her slightly.

“If you pretend to push me off, I’m leaving,” Tobio warns her, and she just laughs again. Squinting in suspicion that she hadn’t said no, he stays far from the edge as possible _—_ just in case. “Are you still having that gnome problem?”

Miwa shakes her head. “No, it was all taken care off last week. The spell you mentioned did just the trick, actually,” she says with a proud smile. “How’d you know it would work?”

“Oh,” Tobio says. Miwa had told him two weeks back about a gnome infestation happening at her workplace, asking to see if he knew of anything or anyone that could help. He’d asked Hinata about it the next day, and Hinata had recommended a spell that had worked for him before. And the problem is _—_ Tobio doesn’t know how to tell her one thing about Hinata without letting the rest of it spill right out, and to talk about Hinata is something Tobio could do for hours on end, maybe even the rest of his life. “I, uh… A friend mentioned it,” Tobio says instead, trying to will the blush on his cheeks away. “Said they had to deal with it before.”

“A friend, huh?” Miwa says, raising an eyebrow. But somewhere beyond her teasing look Tobio finds a glimmer of happiness _—_ maybe even pride. “Care to tell me more about them?”

“Nope,” Tobio says without missing a beat. Relief balloons in his chest when they begin to make their descent back down the bridge, slowly making it back towards the ground.

Miwa just rolls her eyes, and nudges against his shoulder gently. “But what about you? Karasuno Bakery, right?” she says. He doesn’t miss the slight shift in her tone just then, turning into something more delicate, careful.

“Yeah,” Tobio affirms with a small nod. Miwa had been the first person he told after what happened at the Coven, so it makes sense that she’s gentle around it, trying to see if there’s anything to watch for, any pieces left behind. “It’s good. I like it there,” he says, honest, knowing she’ll hear it. Tobio bites the inside of his cheek, remembering a moment from a week ago. “And I think _—_ I think I’m going to stay there for a while.”

“Really?” Miwa asks, sounding a bit surprised. “You,” she says slowly, a tinge of disbelief. “At a bakery? Don’t tell me you can bake now because I still remember that cake you tried to make for my birthday _—_ ”

“I was _ten_ ,” Tobio cuts her off, the tips of his ears turning pink in embarrassment. His sister only continues to look at him with mirth dancing in her eyes, her shoulders shaking as she laughs, making Tobio scowl. “It’s not my fault sugar and salt look exactly the same.”

Miwa just grins. “I’m just a little surprised, that’s all,” she explains, her words much softer, less teasing. “I didn’t expect it, you know? I figured you’d still be trying to find somewhere else to be, especially with your skill.”

Tobio shrugs, and for some odd, strange reason he feels pretty relaxed about all of this. Like a heart that’s learned to finally rest, to reach the top in other ways that hold meaning just as well. “Maybe one day,” he says, and feels the thrill of the uncertainty of the future. “But for now, I think it’s a good place to be in.”

She smiles, genuine. “Well, if you like it there, then that’s all that matters to me,” Miwa tells him, reaching over to squeeze his hand gently. “I’m really glad you’ve been making friends,” she adds. “You look happier than I’ve seen in awhile, Tobio. It’s a good look on you.”

Tobio feels another blush rise to his cheeks, and he keeps his eyes focused on the ground. They’ve finally made it back to the bottom, the sweet solid ground, and the market shouldn’t be too far from here now. It’s a bit busier, though, with everyone going around, teleporting in and out or soaring through, but it’s not anything too congested.

“Thanks,” Tobio mumbles out, feeling incredibly flustered. They’ve never been the type to do sappy and mushy stuff, so this is making him feel a little weird and out of balance. But Miwa’s sincerity is real, and Tobio takes it, learning how to shape it inside of him.

It’s a couple more minutes before they make it to their destination, and Miwa tells him about some of her latest customers on the way there. There are even stranger people than those he’s seen so far, it turns out, and Tobio can’t stop himself from laughing at some of her stories. She tells him about this lady who refused to remove the bird eggs from the top of her head, which forced Miwa to work around it, and this other man who’d had smiley faces tattooed all over his skin. It’s nice, Tobio thinks, that it’s been long enough that they both have stories to tell, but not so long that they’ve forgotten how to find themselves with each other. Maybe it’ll always be like that with the two of them, held together by a childhood that had watched them both grow.

“ _—_ she was nice, of course, but it was a little hard to take her seriously,” Miwa says, going on about another woman who’d gotten googly eyes glued to her cheeks. “I’m not really sure if she knew they were even there, to be honest.”

Tobio snorts another laugh, picking up his pace as they cross the road. The market is already up ahead, and he can see its outline coming into view. “Did anybody try telling her?”

“Obviously,” Miwa says, rolling her shoulders back. “But she always seemed confused every time we did.”

“It’s possible that they were charmed on her,” Tobio offers. “Everyone can see them, but they’re invisible only to her.”

Miwa hums. “Who would even think of doing something like that?”

 _Hinata,_ Tobio thinks immediately. He doesn’t have a single doubt about it _—_ it seems like the exact kind of thing he would come up with, and to be honest, Tobio wouldn’t even be surprised if he already has. Never to be mean, but only ever as a joke. Then, a thought strikes him, and he turns to Miwa, eyes wide.

“Hey, there’s nothing like that on me, is there? If there is _—_ ”

_“Kageyama!”_

Both Tobio and Miwa turn, surprised at the voice. It takes Tobio a moment to see where’d it come from with the number of people around, but then he sees a figure waving to him from a few feet ahead, sitting atop a bike with hair as bright than the sun, his smile even more so as he pedals over to them, grinning wide and easy. In the crowd, Tobio sees _him_ like he sees an infinite summer sky, and his heart drops to his stomach, starting to thunder as the breath leaves him.

Because Hinata Shouyou is here, as though summoned by Tobio’s thoughts alone, as striking and wonderful as ever.

“Kageyama, hey! I didn’t expect to see you here!” Hinata says, cheerful and eager, his breath puffing out little wisps of smoke in the cold air. His green scarf is wrapped around nicely around his neck, and it seems just as bright as he is.

“Hey,” Tobio says, his heart stuttering wildly in his chest. He can see Miwa looking at him out of the corner of his eye, and he’s already got the strongest feeling that she _knows._ “What are you doing here?”

“Deliveries!” Hinata tells him, and he pats the large bag attached to his bike, probably enchanted to keep all the things inside safe as he travels. “It’s your day-off today, right? I went over to the bakery earlier to see you ‘cause I kinda forgot. It was kinda weird to see Tsukishima out front instead of you. Heh.”

Tobio snorts lightly. “I told you a million times that I wasn’t gonna be there. That’s why we’re doing the race tomorrow instead, remember?”

Hinata grins at the reminder, and almost immediately something competitive grows within his eyes, taking form in the flicker of a second. “Right! And I’m gonna beat you!”

“You say that all the time,” Tobio retorts. “But when’s it gonna come true?”

Hinata scoffs. “You’ve already lost to me before, dummy. Or have you already forgotten about my fifty-seven wins already?”

“Don’t forget your fifty-eight losses,” Tobio counters back, his lips twitching up to a smirk. “Better prepare your wallet, dumbass, ‘cause you’re gonna have to buy me five pork buns.”

Hinata puts a hand on his hip. “Hm,” he hums, a mischievous glint in his eye. “Not that you’ve got any chance winning against me, obviously, but let’s say you do win _—_ what if I took you out to dinner instead?”

Tobio feels his face heat up almost instantly. “Oi, _dumbass—_ ”

There’s a loud cough as Miwa clears her throat, startling them both. Tobio blinks. He’d nearly forgotten she was there. He feels a twinge of embarrassment at what she’d probably just witnessed, and he flushes even more. He’s starting to think that all this blushing could probably be enough to keep him warm all winter.

Miwa nudges him, her elbow hitting against his ribs, motioning for him to say something.

“Oh, uh, right,” Tobio mumbles out, taking a step forward to stand in between them both. “This is Hinata Shouyou. He’s my friend from work. Hinata, this is my sister, Miwa.”

“Your sister?” Hinata blurts out, and his eyes widen as he looks back and forth between the two of them, and Tobio swears that it’s like his eyes are actually _sparkling,_ all curious and excited. “It’s nice to meet you, Miwa-san! Kage _—_ Tobio talks about you sometimes!”

Tobio makes a strangled noise at the back of his throat. He’d never actually thought he’d have to deal with his sister meeting Hinata _—_ and with how they both treat teasing him like it’s their life purpose, Tobio feels an immense amount of dread building up inside of him. It’ll be even more embarrassing if Miwa finds out _exactly_ what Tobio thinks of Hinata.

“He does now, does he?” Miwa says, raising an eyebrow at Tobio, who only makes sure to pointedly look away in return. She glances back over at Hinata, smiling and completely unbothered. “It’s nice to meet you too, Hinata-kun. Do you work at the bakery too?”

Hinata shakes his head, looking rightfully proud when he says, “I work at the spell shop next to it! I go over to the bakery pretty often though.”

“Oh,” Miwa says, sounding intrigued and a little surprised. “So how did you two meet then?”

Tobio has a feeling that this is going to end up a little like an interrogation.

Hinata laughs softly, as though remembering the story. Tobio shoots him a glare, but under all his flustering it must not be very effective because Hinata keeps smiling, goofy and wide. He shoots his thumb over to Tobio. “He turned his face all blue and got bit by my snapdragon. And we’ve been best friends ever since!”

Tobio makes another choking sound. He doesn’t know if he’d call them _best friends—_ certainly Hinata’s got a whole bunch of other people he’s closer to with _—_ but if that’s what Hinata honestly thinks…then he’s not going to complain. He’s not sure how true it is, but he’d like it to be. There isn’t really anyone he talks to as constantly, so it might be just like that for him. Hinata’s come to mean a lot to him in a short amount of time, and that must say something, shouldn’t it?

“Blue?” Miwa questions, sounding amused. She looks over at Tobio, raising an eyebrow. “Care to explain that one?”

Tobio crosses his arms. “Nope.”

Hinata laughs, and it chimes like the summer breeze. “Yeah, it was really funny! His whole face was blue ‘cause he ate a bunch of charmed cookies, and he got too close to my snapdragon, so it bit him. I tried to warn him, but the look on his face was priceless!” he exclaims, and he looks over at Tobio with the most shit-eating grin he’s ever seen. Tobio tries to reach over and swipe at him, but even half-standing Hinata’s reflexes are quick, and he ducks in the nick of time. Tobio settles for zapping him on the arm instead, and Hinata yelps, sticking his tongue out at Tobio.

Miwa chuckles lightly, holding up a hand to her face. “I see,” she muses, her eyes just watching the two of them, and Tobio’s certain that she knows now _—_ he knows her just as she knows him, after all _—_ and he flushes, straightening back up and clearing his throat. He feels like a little kid again, caught trying to practice with those new featherstones Miwa had gotten for birthday. Except this time he doesn’t really even have something embarrassed about _—_ he might as well accept that Miwa’s going to ask him about Hinata anyway, and he’ll need to figure out how to not stutter by the mere thought of speaking about the sun.

“It’s all good now, though!” Hinata says with another grin. “Even if he was a lot more frowny back then, turns out he’s just as dumb as I am.”

Tobio scowls and crosses his arms. He can feel goosebumps on his skin from the cold. “That’s not true.”

“That was a compliment!” Hinata says back, a light snicker leaving his lips. “And you’re _okay_ , I guess. Cute, sure, and at least you’re okay.”

Tobio sputters, feeling the heat rush to his cheeks, “You _—dumbass_.” His heart is pounding loudly in his ears, and he makes sure not to make eye contact with anyone, keeping his vision right on the pavement. _Okay_ is what Hinata had said, but Tobio hasn’t forgotten about last week at all _—_ he remembers every bit of it, every word that the truth potion had spilled, and he knows Hinata does too. They haven’t exactly talked about it _—_ but it’s not like Tobio can just bring it up. If he really thinks about it, then maybe there’s nothing to talk about, really, and maybe Tobio’s just making up something that isn’t really there. And he really doesn’t want to have _that_ conversation with Hinata.

Hinata is just nice. He says nice things and is generally nice to everyone. He’s _nice_ , and that’s no good reason to go falling around him. But sometimes Tobio will look over at him, find the line that stands between them, the light and the shadows, and he’ll feel the warmth that comes from taking a step closer. And sometimes Hinata will look at Tobio right back with his stupid, charming smile, and he’ll say something that’ll make Tobio’s heart skip beats, and it’ll make Tobio want to try. It gives him the urge to try, to go for it and see where it leads him, to take that last step and cross the boundary. Sometimes it’ll make him wonder if Hinata wants to try too.

And a lot of those times are like now, when Hinata is looking at Tobio with a soft smile, the afternoon sun falling on his shoulders just right to place the sky around him, infinitely golden, and it almost makes him forget where he is, and all he wants to do is let the words fall out of his mouth and shape themselves around Hinata. There’s a kind of magic in his eyes, one Tobio’s been trying to learn with the rest of him, but it always seems to elude him even in the best of moments, flickering away with the drop of a sunbeam.

There’s a small beep, and the timepiece on Hinata’s bike blinks red, flashing on and off. Hinata startles, removing his eyes away from Tobio to fix the clock, tapping on it twice to reset the numbers. He rubs the back of his neck, and looks up at the two of them, a bit sheepish.

“Ah, I’ve got to go now or I’ll be late,” Hinata says apologetically. He adjusts his seating on the bike, glancing over at Miwa’s direction, bowing his head slightly. “It was really nice to meet you, Miwa-san! You seem really cool!”

Miwa smiles, kind and gentle. “Thank you,” she says. “It was lovely to meet you as well, Hinata-kun. Maybe next time you can tell me more about whatever Tobio’s gotten himself into.”

Hinata seems to light up at the prospect, and Tobio groans. “Of course!” he replies cheerfully. “I’ve got _tons_ of stories.”

Tobio rolls his eyes. “You’ve done dumber things than I have, stupid.”

“Yeah, but at least I didn’t walk into a wall. _Twice_.”

“How was I supposed to know it was there?” he grumbles.

“There was a sign, Bakageyama. A big red sign,” Hinata retorts.

“No, there wasn’t _—_ ”

“Yes, there was _—_ ”

“No, dumbass _—_ ”

“We should probably get going too,” Miwa interrupts, her voice soft and almost dream-like. She smiles at Hinata, a teasing smile blossoming on her lips. “And don’t worry, we can do a trade. Embarrassing Tobio stories from when he was a kid in exchange for some of them now. Sounds good?”

Hinata beams, a laugh escaping his lips. “Deal!” he says, and Tobio just groans. He already knows it's no use to try and argue, and instead he just rubs his hands together, trying to steal back some warmth using the glove Miwa had given him. He hears Hinata moving from where he is, but before he can even turn to see what it is, he feels Hinata take a slanted step, and not a moment later, something warm and soft drops on his shoulders, wrapped snugly around his neck. He looks up to find that Hinata had placed his scarf around Tobio, his cheeks tinted pink from his own sudden lack of warmth. Tobio would half a mind to think about how cute he looks, the tip of his nose bridging in watercolor all the way to his ears _—_ but he’s too busy trying not to malfunction, thinking about how _Hinata had just given him his scarf._

“Hinata _—_ ”

“You’ve been shivering a bit, and you looked a bit cold,” he says before Tobio can get another word out. “I don’t mind anyway. I’ve always been good at keeping warm, so I’ll be fine. No take backs.”

“But _—_ ”

“Nope,” Hinata sya with another of his stupid smiles. Adjusting himself back on his seat properly, he rests a foot on one of the pedals, ready to go. “I hope I’ll see you again soon, Miwa-san!” he says, looking over at Tobio’s sister with a wide smile. He winks. “See you tomorrow, Tobio!”

Hinata pedals off without another word, and Tobio watches his silhouette disappear into the crowd. He imagines a line that connects the two of them, entangled in the sea of people, and hopes that it’s the kind of string that’ll never break, not even for a moment. It warms him from the inside, and he tries not to think about how the scarf smells like Hinata, and how the familiarity is more of a comfort than anything else.

“So,” Miwa says, swiveling around to face him. And there it is _—_ the knowing look, the raised eyebrows, and Tobio feels all the warmth rise to his cheeks. He looks away, pushing past her to begin walking _—_ but before anything else, Miwa had been Tobio’s first race competitor, and she matches his pace with ease. “Hinata, huh? Is he the reason why you’ve been so distracted?”

Tobio feels himself flush again, and his frown deepens. Obviously he knows it’s a losing game, but he needs to at least pretend to care for the last of his dignity.

Miwa nudges against his arm. “Tobio,” she says, and this time her voice is softer, more careful. Her hand finds his wrist, squeezing it gently. “You like him, don’t you?”

Tobio bites the inside his cheek. He feels his resolve crumble just as easily, and of course it does, because it’s Miwa, and even if there had been a time they weren’t that close, they’re slowly trying to make up for it. “Is it that obvious?” he asks, his voice quiet, almost in fear that he will be overheard. Strange, isn’t it, that his feelings are the loudest thing inside of him, but they always come out so quiet when he gives them words?

“No,” Miwa says, shaking her head lightly, and Tobio feels his shoulders relax in relief. “You’re my brother, and I just know you. Seems like Hinata might be just as dense as you are, though.”

“I’m not _dense—_ ” Tobio begins to argue before he falters, fully realizing what she’d just said. “Wait, what do you mean ‘as dense as me’?”

Miwa smiles to herself, as if holding a secret right on the tip of her tongue. “He said he went over to the bakery to see you, didn’t he?”

Tobio frowns, confused. “He does that all the time. He likes to be a bother.”

Miwa hums, thoughtful. “And he called you cute too, didn’t he?

Tobio blushes. “That doesn’t mean anything,” he mumbles. “He calls things cute all the time.”

She raises an eyebrow. “He gave you his scarf.”

“He noticed I was cold.”

“He wouldn’t stop looking at you,” Miwa says.

“Well _—_ I mean _—_ that’s only because _—_ ”

“ _Tobio_ ,” Miwa says, sounding fondly exasperated, giving him a small smile. “I think you’ve been too busy noticing him that you’ve forgotten to look at how he notices _you_.”

He blinks. “What?”

“I’m saying,” Miwa says, stopping in her tracks to look right at him, her expression light but serious. “That Hinata _likes_ you. The same way you like him.”

“You don’t know that,” Tobio says quickly. Because how could she know such a thing when she’d only just met Hinata? How could she possibly be able to say something like that so easily when Tobio’s been trying to find the courage to believe that kind of possibility for weeks? Hinata’s always worn his heart on his sleeve, but Tobio’s been looking all over trying to find the right key to it. “It’s Hinata _—_ he doesn’t _—_ you can’t possibly _—_ ”

“I do,” she insists, her eyebrows knitting together in concern. “Is it so hard for you to believe something like that? That someone could want you back?”

Tobio looks away. He remembers that night when Hinata had asked him to stay. No one had ever done that before _—_ Hinata had been the first. He remembers how he felt, how easily Hinata had let three words slip from his tongue like he’s known them his whole life, and how Tobio thinks he might just feel like this is just an old love brought anew. He thinks about what if felt like, that heart-stopping moment, to hear Hinata say it, and just how much he’d like to call it a truth.

“I want to believe it,” Tobio says softly. “I just don’t know _how_.”

“But you know Hinata, don’t you? You know him better than I do,” Miwa says, and something about it makes Tobio remember something else. Something from months back, when they’d stood in the in-between of seasons, ice cream held in their hands with the sweet taste of promises on their tongue. Tobio considers her words, and thinks that something about him and Hinata had been different from the beginning. Something had always shifted golden when held up to the light, and he could never understand what was hidden under the luster.

But he wants to. God, he wants to.

Because learning about Hinata has always felt less like finding something new and more like recognizing an old heartbeat. Tobio imagines himself standing in a garden, mapping out a landscape of color and flowers, walking right into it to stay. _I did not meet you,_ Tobio would say to the heart, watching it take the shape of a beautiful boy. _I recognized you._ And it’s that first thing, that momentous little thing that had burrowed itself into a million other things like exploding pastries and catbell plants that Tobio finds the overwhelming vastness it’s grown into. He’s always known it, always felt it, that wondrous familiarity, and he wants to be able to say it out loud. He wants to be able to find the right words to tell Hinata that this is the way it feels for him; he wants Hinata to understand what it meant to Tobio when he said _let me know your heart,_ even when Tobio had stopped hiding and pretending. He wants to be able to tell Hinata: _I don’t think I can find familiar without you._

Because if Hinata Shouyou is a forest fire, then Kageyama Tobio is a heart willing to burn.

“Have you ever thought about telling him?” Miwa asks, her voice gentle like the wind, beckoning him for an answer. “The only way to know how he truly feels is to ask him.”

Of course Tobio’s thought about telling Hinata. He’s got a thousand scenarios in his head, all of them happening in different ways and falling in different directions. Of course Tobio’s thought about it. He thinks about it when Hinata looks his way, gives him a second glance, hands him a smile like seeing Tobio is something that actually makes him happy. Even when they’re bickering, or when they’re just sharing some of the left-over cookies, the thought comes to him, and the words try to break the surface. In the stillness of the night, when the silence is overwhelming, until the only thing he can hear is his own heartbeat _—_ and it makes him wonder if it’s fallen in sync with another, a heart held in the hands of a boy with laughter as his first language. Of course Tobio’s thought about saying it. He doesn’t think a day goes by that he doesn’t.

“I wouldn’t know what to say,” Tobio says, his voice barely even above a whisper, and it’s a truth, because despite the thousand scenarios, none of them have ever been the right one. “I don’t know how to put something like that into words.”

“It doesn’t have to be perfect,” Miwa tells him, her voice filled with nothing but calm reassurance. “It doesn’t need to be grand or something big. You can keep it simple. Just tell him how he makes you feel.”

But that’s the problem, isn’t it? Hinata makes Tobio feel _everything—_ a collision of worlds and emotions, coalescing into his hurricane heart, until he can’t see anything beyond the way he feels. He’d given Tobio something new to believe in, and he doesn’t think he could ever go back to a time without it.

“What do you like about him?”

Tobio looks back at his sister, but there’s nothing funny or teasing about the look on her face. There’s no hidden motive _—_ just a genuine question looking for an answer. Tobio bites the inside of his cheek _—_ even if he could make a list, he feels as though it wouldn’t do it any justice at all. But he’s willing to try, if it means becoming one step closer to saying it. If it means Hinata will listen to what Tobio has to say, then he’s willing to do anything at all.

“He stays,” Tobio begins to say, his heart doing star jumps in his chest. “He stays, and he listens. He’s the only one who’s bothered to care in a really long time, and he’s the most interesting person I’ve ever met. He’s dumb and funny and annoying, and I want to be with him all the time.”

Miwa smiles. “Then what’s stopping you? You’ve never been afraid of anything before, Tobio. Why start now?”

Because it’s Hinata. Because it’s Hinata, and he’s come to _know_ Tobio, and there is a vulnerability there that he doesn’t want to be found. But Hinata had come barging into his heart anyway, and Tobio had let him in without thinking twice. Because along the way Tobio had _wanted_ Hinata to know him, and that in itself is a magic that he’s never seen before. Everything’s changed since he met Hinata, and he wouldn’t trade that for the world.

“The thing about people,” she says, looking over at him, “is that you can never fully know someone. There’s always something new to learn about them. Even when you’ve been together for years, or even when you’re old and think you know all there is you possibly could, something new always comes along. People are always full of surprises. We’re a little like magic that way, don’t you think?”

Miwa reaches over to squeeze his hand. “What I mean is that you’ll never know unless you ask him. You won’t be able to know for sure unless you actually talk about it. He seems like a good kid, and if you really mean it when you say he makes you happy, then I’ll believe it. I trust you.”

She tilts her head, a slight hum on her lips. “Though I’m pretty sure of it, even if he doesn’t feel the same way, I don’t think Hinata is the kind of person who’d stop talking to you just because of that.”

Tobio stills. Though that’s one of the reasons why he’s scared, he knows that Miwa is right. Hinata would never be so cruel, and he’d let Tobio down in the gentlest way possible. He’d be _nice_ about it, and they’ll try to move on, and Tobio will give himself a couple of days to get over it. It’ll hurt, of course, but Tobio isn’t going to ask Hinata for something he can’t give _—_ especially when it comes to something like this. How painful and lovely it is to feel like this, stopping just short of destruction, right on the brink of something beautiful.

She nudges him gently, a smile on her lips. “So tell me then,” Miwa says. “What do you have to lose?”

Tobio remains quiet, considering her words. _Everything,_ he could say. He could lose what he has now with Hinata, and they’ll never be the same again. He could lose this shelter he’s found and built up for himself from scratch, and he could lose what he has all over again. It could be like the Coven again. It could be so many terrible things, and Tobio’s chest seizes at the mere thought of it, except _—_

Except he wants to try.

He wants to try. From where they’re standing now, Tobio can make out the outline of the ice cream shop, the one he and Hinata had been to before. If things went wrong between them, Tobio doesn’t think he could ever go near the place again _—_ hell, he could probably never even go back to the spell shop or the bakery without thinking about it _—_ but what if things went right? What if Hinata felt the same way? Tobio knows it would be something miraculous, but he can’t stop himself from hoping anyway _—_ and that heavy set of longing washes over him like a tidal wave, filling up his lungs. He looks at the ice cream shop, and thinks about how he’d like to go back one day. He’d like to go back, and this time when Bokuto says something about them being on a date, it will be a truth that Tobio won’t deny, that he can hold onto. He wants that. He wants it more than anything.

He wants Hinata.

Because in all the fiery ways he can be, Hinata is also a quiet afternoon crush. He is something to settle into after long hours, the cup of coffee brewed just right shared between two, the inside jokes and the laughter that fills them up from the inside out. And just as so, Tobio had turned soft around the edges without even noticing it, smoothing out his creases, picking the glass pieces back together without trying too hard to hide the cracks anymore. He’s mellowed down to a drizzle, the lightning inside of him still there, but it’s learned to be patient, learned to be kind. He wants to ask Hinata about his day and listen to him ramble on about this new podcast he’s listening to. He wants to be able to take his hand when they’re walking, to see him smile and make him laugh even with the dumbest jokes, and not need an excuse to stare. He wants to be with Hinata, in whatever way that might mean. He just knows that he wants to stick around for a little while longer, and he hopes Hinata will do the same.

And if Miwa’s right _—_ then the only way to be able to know would be to _tell him_.

Tobio has to tell him. He wants to.

It’s almost like he’s just been struck by lightning, the way the realization comes to him, his heart dropping to his stomach. Tobio’s never fallen short when it comes to building up his resolve, and this time is no exception. It’s like the breath’s been stolen from his lungs, and he tries to balance himself, the world shifting as he comes to grips with it. He’s going to tell Hinata. He’ll be honest this time around, and he’ll mean every bit of it. He’ll make Hinata understand. This feeling he carries inside of him, this maybe-love, this yearning and lovelorn hope _—_ it’s stronger than anything else that’s ever lived inside of him. It might just be magic itself. And this time, when Hinata looks at him to smile, Tobio will know what to say.

He’ll get it right.

As he’s considering this, he doesn’t even realize that they’ve finally made it to the market. The crowd grows thicker around them, and stalls line up one after the other on the street. The whole place is bursting with color _—_ auras glow heavily around them, hanging in the air as wisps of light zigzag and float among their heads, sparklers going off and snowstorms kept in bottles. Trinkets and charms for sale, lanterns hanging above their heads, enchanted to glow and hum as they pass, luring them in. It’s bustling with people, crystalflies and summoned rainfish. There must be an event going on, some sort of festival, and Tobio lets himself revel in it. Breathes in the smell of magic, and lets it fill him in from inside out.

He follows as Miwa walks toward a stall with a couple of spellbooks and artifacts, picking up one of the closer scrolls to inspect it.

“Well, while we’re here,” Miwa says after a moment, digging her wallet out of her purse. She looks up at Tobio, tilting her head. “Why don’t you tell me more about him?”

Tobio blinks. “Hinata?”

“Yeah,” she says, placing her hands on her hips. “I need to know what exactly about him has gotten my baby brother all _smitten._ ”

Tobio flushes, and flicks at her arm. Because they’re both very mature, she makes a face at him, and Tobio only sticks his tongue out at her in response.

“What are you waiting for? Go on,” Miwa says, the teasing lilt back in her tone. “Tell me about Hinata Shouyou.”

Tobio knows she won’t rest until he gives in, so he just sighs, hoping that the winter air will be enough to cover up his warming cheeks. This is why he didn’t want to bring up Hinata in the first place _—_ not because he didn’t want to tell her, but because he doesn’t know where to start. But, he supposes, the best place for stories like these are always the beginning. And they’ve got time, haven’t they? Maybe something good will come out of being able to say it like this. Maybe it’ll bring something close to courage.

Taking a deep breath, Tobio prepares an old tale on his tongue, and tells his sister the winter story of how a boy king had found something golden to believe in.

* * *

“You’re seeing this too, right?” Hinata says, propping an arm up on the counter. He rests his cheek against his palm, squishing up the right side of his face. Twirling the straw from his drink, Hinata takes another sip, tilting his head over to motion to the other side of the room, his smile laced with humor. Technically, Hinata isn’t even supposed to be here next to Tobio, but it’s almost closing time anyway, and Suga hadn’t seemed to mind when he’d seen Hinata there. To be honest, he’s not sure he can think of an instance when Suga or Daichi _had_ minded. (And if he _really_ thinks about, he’s almost certain that all Suga had done was curve his lips into a teasing smile, a knowing look on his face that Tobio had steadfastly and promptly ignored.)

“Seeing what?” Tobio asks, looking up from where he’d been glancing over at Hinata. He follows Hinata’s line of sight to find Tsukishima and Yamaguchi over by one of the corner tables, a slice of cheesecake on a plate between them as Tsukishima nods his head, listening to whatever Yamaguchi’s talking about. He’s seen this scene in front of him a hundred times before; it’s enough for him to understand exactly what Hinata’s hinting at without having to put too much thought into it. “Oh.”

Hinata breathes out a light laugh. “Yeah, _oh_. What’d you think?”

Tobio snorts, and continues on with what he’d been doing before Hinata had raised the question. Hinata’s been trying to teach him how to fold other kinds of stuff with paper, and so far he’s got a crane and some sort of flower down. Right now he’s working on a dragon, Hinata’s own version laid before him as a guide, but he’s having a bit of trouble understanding this one. Hinata had even enchanted it to fold and unfolded on its own, but it’s still a little tricky.

“They like each other,” Tobio replies, his frown deepening when he realizes he’s made a mistake with the folding. “What else is there to it?”

Hinata raises an eyebrow, straightening back up to fix Tobio with a look. “What do you mean? There’s everything to it!”

Tobio shrugs. “Like what?”

“There’s _—_ there’s _—_ you know,” Hinata stammers, a little flushed as his hands move around, trying to find a balance. “They’ve liked each other for _ages_. Even before I met Yamaguchi, he was already over the moon about Tsukishima. And it’s a little hard to tell at first glance, but once you’ve looked hard enough, it’s easy to tell that Tsukishima likes him just as much. I mean _—_ look at them right now. Isn’t that something?”

Tobio does what he’s told, sneaking a glance over at the two friends. He’s not really sure if it’s because if the blonde’s got his guard down or if it’s just like what Hinata had said _—_ but it _is_ obvious to him, simply enough with that soft expression Tsukishima has on his face as Yamaguchi talks, and anyone who knows Yamaguchi can easily figure it out. Tobio hasn’t forgotten that he and Tsukishima have an agreement not to talk about this sort of thing, but what harm can it bring when Hinata already knows anyway? As long as Tsukishima doesn’t catch them looking, then they should be fine.

“I keep trying to tell Yamaguchi to confess, but it’s never happened,” Hinata says, sounding a little sad. Tobio looks back at him to find his lips tugged downward into a frown. “Tsukishima doesn’t like talking about it, but I can tell that he wants to.”

“So why haven’t they?” Tobio asks. Something about this feels a little too close to home, but he swallows the feeling down, not wanting to think about that now. After his conversation with Miwa, he’s thought about it a lot more, shaped his resolve into something stronger, but it always leaves him incredibly nervous. What a stubborn heart he keeps, that it chooses to hold it close even when it makes him feel breathless each and every time. “Don’t they want to try?”

“Of course they do. I’m sure of it,” Hinata says simply, flicking a finger at his glass, looking a little lost in thought. “But Yamaguchi told me once that he likes where they are now. That he doesn’t want to mess that up. They’ve known each other for a long time, you know?”

“Yeah,” Tobio says, his voice coming out softer than he’d expected. “Yeah, I understand that.”

“But it’ll be worth it in the end, won’t it? That’s what I keep trying to tell him. That it won’t be as bad as he thinks it’ll be,” Hinata says, hands coming to cup his glass, fingers tapping as he thinks. “He keeps saying that he’s waiting for the right time, but why has it never come?”

“Can you really time things like that?” Tobio asks, his heart stuck in his throat. Suddenly, it’s very important for him to know what Hinata thinks, because then _—_ because then it might tell Tobio what to do. To try or not, because if there’s a chance, even the smallest, infinitesimal chance, then Tobio wants to give it his best. He’s never been one to do things halfway, and this _matters_. This is important, and if Hinata will even just _consider_ giving it a go, then Tobio will take it. So he needs to know. He needs to know what Hinata thinks, and hope he finds the answer lying beneath.

“I used to believe you could. I used to think that the best way to confess was to plan it out and prepare as best you could,” Hinata answers, and there’s something strange in his tone, one Tobio doesn’t really know how to name. Like Hinata’s the one who’s somewhere else this time, and he can only hope Hinata will remember his own words and let Tobio come with him to wherever he’s found himself. “But recently I’ve been learning that it’s harder than I thought.”

At Hinata’s words, Tobio feels his heart lurch in his chest, and his eyebrows knit together in confusion. “Recently?” he asks. “What do you mean?”

Hinata shrugs, laughing again, trying for something casual. But Tobio knows him well enough now to know that there’s something else there, an undercurrent of nervousness _—_ and maybe even something sad. Something lonely. He can’t quite pinpoint it, but it rubs him the wrong way, and he isn’t sure why. There’s something tucked behind it, a shadow lurking behind the light.

He waves a hand in dismissal, training his eyes to focus on the paper dragon he folded. The bare movement of his finger has it flapping its wings, almost as though it’s preparing flight. Tobio thinks that it’s a lot like what he’s feeling right now _—_ the dragons inside him getting ready to beat around his ribcage, anxious for something he doesn’t even understand. “Never mind,” Hinata says with a shake of his head, the tips of his ears flushed the palest pink. Tobio wants to ask more, ask Hinata what he meant by that, but he doesn’t want to pry. Hinata tells him a lot of things, and if it’s not one he’s ready to say, then Tobio has no business asking about it. But still _—_ he might be overthinking it, but what had Hinata meant? There’s only a few reasons that could have possibly led Hinata to change his mind, and Tobio desperately wants to know what they could be.

Hinata blows out a breath, placing both palms flat on the table. “I just _—_ I mean, there’s gotta be a reason they’ve waited this long, right? Maybe the timing just hasn’t been right. Maybe they’re scared. Maybe it’s because they don’t want to mess up the best thing they’ve had in a long while. Maybe they’ve been waiting so long that they’ve convinced themselves it was enough. It could be a lot of things.”

Tobio thinks that Hinata’s saying very curious things, and something about that last part’s got him feeling that this is something beyond Tsukishima and Yamaguchi, like it’s a little more personal than that. But he doesn’t know how to _ask_ , and the words have never come to him easily. So instead, he just hums in agreement, focusing back on the paper in front of him.

“You think they’ll ever tell each other?” Hinata asks after a second.

“Sure,” Tobio says, even when he really doesn’t know. Well, if anything, his bet’s on Yamaguchi, because he’s sure as hell that Tsukishima isn’t the one about to make the first move. “They’ll get it right. You don’t have to worry about them too much.”

“I’m not worried about them,” Hinata says back. Tobio raises an eyebrow, disbelieving, and Hinata holds up both his hands in surrender. “Okay, okay, I’m worried. But I know they’ll be fine. It’s _—_ it’s other things.”

“Other things?”

Hinata shakes his head. “Doesn’t matter,” he says. Tobio finds it odd just how much of this topic Hinata is avoiding, even when he’d been the one to bring it up in the first place. He waits to see if Hinata will say anything more, but nothing ever comes, so Tobio redirects back his attention to his task.

A few moments later, he can see Hinata shift a few moments later out of the corner of his eye, his cheek against his palm again. But sneaking a glance at him, Tobio’s surprised to find that Hinata isn’t looking over at Tsukishima and Yamaguchi anymore _—_ rather, his attention is focused on _Tobio_ , biting his lip like he’s lost in thought again, a funny look on his face. And it’s strange, Tobio believes, because everything about Hinata has become incredibly familiar to him these past few months, but this is the one thing that still eludes him.

He tries to keep at it, sticking his tongue out in concentration as he works on the folding. It’s almost complete now, and he’s just trying to figure out the last few steps, mapping it out in his head.

But it would be easier, Tobio thinks to himself, if _Hinata would stop staring at him._

He tries to ignore it, really he does, but focusing, as it turns out, tends to be a lot more difficult when the object of your affection is looking over at you without ever looking away. Tobio tries to stop himself from blushing, his stomach squirming, trying to silently will Hinata to just _look away_ , but none of it really works. He can’t really focus like this at all, and knowing that Hinata is watching the way he’s folding this paper _—_ it makes him a little nervous. And when Tobio makes another mistake, creating the wrong crease on the paper, he feels himself cringe in embarrassment, and decides that he’s had enough.

Sighing, he drops the paper onto the counter, and snaps his head up to look at Hinata. “Okay, I know it looks a little rough right now, but it’s my first time trying to fold a damn dragon, so if you’ve got something to say, you can spit it out now.”

Hinata blinks. “What?”

“If it’s ugly, you can just say it,” Tobio says, feeling a little miffed. “I was planning to try again anyway.”

It takes a moment, but Tobio can pinpoint the moment it clicks with Hinata, and his eyes widen in realization. “Oh!” he says, understanding dawning upon him. “I don’t think it’s ugly at all! It looks a lot better than when I first tried it, I promise. Why would you think that?”

Tobio crosses his arms, and feels a blush warm his cheeks. “Because you kept staring at it! What else was I supposed to think?”

Hinata bursts out laughing. “I wasn’t staring at the paper, stupid,” he says, a smile dancing on his lips.

He gives Hinata a dry look. “Then what were you staring at?”

“You, obviously,” Hinata says with a grin. “You get this funny look on your face when you’re concentrating.”

Tobio rolls his eyes, and swipes at Hinata. He manages to land a hit, but it’s not very strong _—_ not that Tobio ever really intends to be one.

“I didn’t mean it in a bad way!” Hinata says with another laugh, repositioning himself back over to Tobio’s side. “I’m just saying, your eyebrows get all scrunched up and your eyes get really clear, like the sky. It’s cute.”

“Cute,” Tobio repeats, dumbfounded. Ah, here it is again _—_ Hinata’s blunt honesty to match with Tobio’s embarrassment. He feels his face turn hot, and he stammers, “Dumbass, you can’t just _—_ ”

“But it’s true!” Hinata argues back, a light laugh escaping his mouth. This whole ordeal reminds of him of the things Miwa had told him, something that sounds awfully like _he called you cute_ and _he wouldn’t stop looking at you_. It ignites something inside of him, the thrill of a rush. For a moment, he wonders if it had been wrong to deny it when Miwa had asked, that maybe there might be some sort of meaning behind it after all. What if there was more to it than he thought? There’s been more moments like this before, and if Tobio puts them all together it gives him something close to hope _—_ and that’s a dangerous thing to have, isn’t it? Hope? It can give meaning to something that isn’t really there, and that’s the last thing he wants.

But with the way Hinata’s looking at him now, grinning and restless and _fond_ , it makes him wonder. It makes him want to say it, right there and then, just so that he can see how it’ll go. He’s filled with the urge to do it, just so that he can lay it all in the air and let it hang for Hinata to see. So he can finally get the answers he wants to know, even if it’ll hurt him.

“Dumbass,” he just mutters again, struggling with the lack of anything better to say. He picks up the paper again, wanting a good reason not to look directly at Hinata right now. He doesn’t think he can handle it, looking right at him now with the moonlight on his skin. “Don’t be stupid.”

“Might be too late for that,” Hinata says back, smiling. He glances over at the paper on the table, and moves before Tobio can even get another word out. “Here,” he says, voice much softer. “It’s like this.”

With careful fingers, he puts his hands over Tobio’s, guiding him over to where he needs to fold the paper, bending them enough that they’re stable. Tobio can’t even get himself to understand or memorize what’s happening, because _Hinata is holding his hands_. He’s overreacting, he knows, because it’s only the lightest of touches, but Hinata’s hands seem calloused and rough and _warm_ , and it makes tingle everywhere. Like’s hyper-aware of everything around him because Hinata is near, trying to to combust into a million pieces.

“See?” Hinata says, blissfully unaware of the position he’s put Tobio in. “Easy.”

Tobio makes a sound. It’s supposed to be a hum to agree, but it comes out a little more strangled than that. It’s a little difficult to breathe, you see, when Hinata’s hands are still on his, the touch like a ghost of what it could be. “Right,” he manages to say. With a flick of his own wrist, a small wind current sweeps the paper dragon up into the air, swirling it around until it’s got enough magic to hold its own, learning to flap its wings.

Hinata grins. “Told you it was easy,” he says. Finally, he removes his hands away to place them on his hips. Tobio’s hit with a sudden pang of longing, his own fingers itching with the need to reach out for Hinata again, and to take his hands in his own properly this time around. To hold them and let himself burn with the warmth, to hold onto it for as long as he can. For as long as Hinata will let him.

It’s an overwhelming feeling, and Tobio curses internally. At the rate he’s going, he’s not going to last very long. If Hinata keeps this up, it won’t be long before Tobio will find himself stuttering over his own words as his heart bleeds out a promise, and then it will let his feelings find rest within Hinata’s hands. If this keeps going, Tobio won’t be able to hold back for much longer, and then he’ll let it spill over the concrete, into the cracks and crevices. Will flowers bloom where the words have fallen?

He swallows thickly. This isn’t good at all.

Luckily for him, Daichi calls out for closing time as the last customer finally leaves. Tobio’s quick to get started on clean-up, and Hinata and Yamaguchi help out too, having closed up the spell shop much earlier that day. Hinata tries to race Tobio when they both mop the floor, and naturally Tobio accepts, and maybe they both should’ve seen it coming, the way Hinata accidentally slips and brings Tobio down with him. A laugh is easy to bubble out of Hinata’ lips, and Tobio can’t stop himself from grinning at the stupidity of it all. Daichi just sighs when he comes to see what the commotion is all about, and Suga loops his arm around his husband, an amused twinkle in his eye. With two extra pairs of hands, they get it all done much faster, and Tobio packs up his things, dusting his hands off on his jeans. He bids goodbye to Suga and Daichi before leaving, nods awkwardly at Tsukishima when they bump into each other on his way out of the backroom.

Tobio finds Hinata waiting for him at the door, rocking back and forth on his heels with Peanut in his arms, talking to her softly. Maybe he shouldn’t really be surprised, since they’ve started walking home together more ever since that incident with the truth potion, but his heart does star jumps anyway, those little dragons in his stomach beating their wings. Just looking at him, Tobio feels the breath catch in his throat, almost like the wind’s been knocked out of his lungs. And maybe it’s a testament to the way he feels, that it’s like he’s right on a fault line, when all Hinata is doing is just _standing there_ , and Tobio’s caught in a whirlwind. That he’s entranced with the way the moonlight falls onto Hinata’s skin like it’s trying to find him, an affinity for the sun, always chasing, softening his features while also shaping them into something more refined. Vibrant and colorful and magical, Hinata Shouyou is a cut of both sunrise and sunset, and Tobio walks a little more into love.

Hinata turns the moment he hears Tobio approach, and it only makes Tobio a little more breathless, the glint of nightfall that’s kept in his eyes clear and bright. He grins when he sees Tobio, settling Peanut back into her cage and straightening back up. He’s already got his scarf wrapped around his neck, the jacket Tobio had lent him earlier that day loose around his shoulders. (He’d been complaining about the cold, and since Tobio’s never been good with the winter, he tries to keep a spare jacket with him when he can, so he’d handed it over. It’s a little bit weird though, he thinks, because Hinata’s usually just fine with the cold.)

“Ready to go?” asks Hinata, tilting his head towards the direction of the door. Tobio nods, adjusting his bag’s strap over his shoulder. He follows as Hinata pushes the door open for both of them, and waits on the other side for Hinata to step out. It’s even colder out than it was before _—_ there’s patches of snow on the ground now, crystallizing into random shapes with a hum, covering bits and pieces of the pavement. Fortunately, it isn’t snowing right now, but the winter air is still prickly on his skin, and Tobio wishes that he’d brought gloves. Those are the ones he always forgets, and he really ought to know better by now.

He watches as Hinata walks over to the front of the spell shop to look over it. As expected, all the lights have been charmed out, and shadows dance behind the glass walls. He can’t really see much, and after a moment, Hinata seems satisfied enough, nodding and pacing himself next to Tobio. They continue walking after that, and Tobio thinks it’s endearing how Hinata skips over the cracks, kicking pebbles when he finds them. Hinata swings his arms when he walks, and there’s a couple of times when his knuckles brush against Tobio’s, and Tobio freezes for a moment, his fingers itching to just take Hinata’s hand. _For warmth,_ he could say _—_ but that would be a pretty lame excuse, wouldn’t it? Hinata would see right through him, and that would just be embarrassing.

So Tobio just steels himself, and keeps walking, making sure to keep a good distance.

“Hey, Kageyama,” Hinata says after a couple moments of silence. Tobio hadn’t really minded for the most part; he hasn’t really felt uncomfortable around Hinata in a long time. Really, if he thinks about it, aside from the usual embarrassment and general awkwardness he carries with him, he doesn’t think he ever has been. Almost as though his body already knew how to shape itself around Hinata long before they even met.

“Yeah?”

“What do you think of me?”

Tobio pauses, his tracks slowing down as he looks over at Hinata. “What kind of question is that?” he asks, squinting his eyes at him.

Hinata just shrugs, tucking his hands into the jacket’s pockets. “What do you think of me?” he repeats, as though it’ll make it any more clearer to Tobio.

He raises an eyebrow, crossing his arms. “I think you’re a dumbass.”

Hinata rolls his eyes, swaying until he bumps against Tobio, hard enough that it makes him slightly lose his balance. “I mean it, stupid,” he says, shaking his head. With the moonlight on their skin, Tobio can make out the smile that etches a gentle line across his face, almost fond even. But there’s something about it that looks just the bit off, and maybe it’s just the shadows, but Tobio swears it’s not the usual teasing and joking smile he’s used to. This one stands on the border of seriousness, and there’s a feeling inside of him that’s saying there might be more to it. Something he can’t see.

Hinata knocks against him again, but this time the distance is shorter between them, their shoulders brushing. “So? Have you got anything to say?”

“I’m trying to figure out if there’s supposed to be a joke somewhere or if you’re genuinely giving me a free pass to insult you,” Tobio says back, a small smile on his lips. Hinata only huffs out a laugh and shoves him again, arm against arm—and it’s silly, Tobio knows, because the warmth is brief and fleeting and barely even there, but he’ll still take it over nothing.

“Just be honest,” Hinata says, and there’s something about his eyes that keeps Tobio looking right back at him, even when words about something like this comes harder than anything else. There are a lot of things Tobio could say about Hinata Shouyou, but none of them are the right ones. “You don’t seem to have a hard time doing that when you’re making fun of me.”

“That’s because it’s easy,” Tobio tells him, glancing over.

“And this is hard?” Hinata questions back with the slight raise of an eyebrow. _Yes,_ Tobio thinks to himself. How do you talk about love to the one person who snatched it right from the sky just to give it to you? How do you talk about love to the person who made you believe in it to begin with? Isn’t that an impossible, invincible thing?

Tobio shrugs, casting his gaze down towards the pavement. There are no more flowers in the cracks, no dandelions left over from the spring. “What do you want me to say exactly?”

“Anything you want,” Hinata answers back easily. He kicks one of the pebbles, and it skips down the road, ahead of them. “I’m just curious.”

Tobio can’t figure out what could’ve possibly brought this on, but Hinata’s mind seems to run a mile a minute sometimes. He does his best to catch up, and most of the time he can see the pattern, but when it’s like this—sudden and out of the blue—he finds himself caught off-guard and unsure. Well, Hinata’s always been full of surprises.

“Like I said, you’re a dumbass,” Tobio begins.

Hinata crosses his arms. “But?”

He raises an eyebrow, and with the most innocent look he can muster he says, “That’s it. There is no ‘but.’”

Hinata stares, then punches Tobio hard on the shoulder, enough to make it ache. “Asshole.”

Tobio rubs his arm, sticking his tongue out. “You already know what I think of you, don’t you?”

He tilts his head, putting his hand under his chin. “I mean, sure, I guess I sorta do, but—” Hinata laughs again, soft and tittering with nervousness at the edges. “It’ll be different if it comes from you.” Hinata opens his mouth again, almost as if to say something else. But it’s like he decides against it, closing his mouth and shaking his head. “Just say it already, would you? I’ve already told you what I think of you tons of times, so it’s only fair!”

“Fine, fine,” Tobio gives in, waving a hand around. He hums, and hears his own heartbeat echo right back at him. “So I just say what I think of you?”

“Yeah,” Hinata says. It’s odd, the way his voice is softer, smaller—almost like he’s anxious about it. “Simple as that.”

Tobio sneaks a glance over at him. He’ll admit—he’s nervous about this too, and the words aren’t coming to him as fast as he’d like. It’s just—sometimes when Tobio looks over at Hinata, he can’t think of anything at all. His mind blanks out, not a single thought in his head, but all he cares about is taking a step closer, just to see his heart a little better.

But he does owe it to Hinata to at least _try_ , doesn’t he?

“You’re loud,” Tobio starts to say, sucking in a deep breath. Hinata makes a small sound of protest, but ultimately says nothing at all, waiting for Tobio to finish. “And annoying. You’re weird and incredibly stubborn. Sometimes you’re impossible to deal with and you make really bad jokes. You don’t like yogurt.”

“It just sounds like you’re insulting me.”

“You asked for it.”

“Does that last one even count?”

“It’s relevant,” Tobio answers, and Hinata just rolls his eyes. “I’m not done yet, by the way.”

“Go on, then.”

He takes another deep breath, and tries to calm his stuttering hands. He really should’ve brought gloves—with the nerves and the cold, he’s not sure what to do with them. But this is where a little bit of his chest peels away and the honesty seeps in through the cracks, where he reaches closer to where a heart bleeds open. Tobio makes sure to keep his eyes straight on the road when he says, “You’re a real piece of work, but I’m glad that I—that I got to know you.”

Tobio feels a blush threaten to warm his cheeks, and he keeps his head down, not even wanting to check what Hinata looks like. “You’re loud, but I don’t mind the noise. You’re annoying, and you like to bother me, but your company is good. You’re weird and incredibly stubborn, but that’s—but we have that in common, I guess. You always seem to understand me because of it. You take me seriously.” He bites the inside of his cheek. “And you…sometimes being impossible is a good thing, because you bring something new with you every day. Keeps me on my toes. And even if your jokes are complete shit, I don’t think I’ve ever—you make me laugh. You’re nice, and you’re a good friend, and I don’t think anyone’s ever bothered to get to know me as well as you do. You’re interesting.”

He rubs the back of his neck, awkward and nervous. “And it’s completely stupid, by the way, that you don’t like yogurt. It doesn’t make any sense.”

Tobio expects Hinata to rise to the obvious bait, quick as he always is to find something to counter with, until they’re bickering back and forth with no end in sight. But instead he’s met with silence, and _Hinata is never quiet,_ so he snaps his head to look up, his stomach a bundle of nerves and concern.

But all he finds is Hinata looking back at him, surprise written all over his face. His eyes are wide, his cheeks and nose and ears all stained and glowing pink with the night, and Tobio might think it was adorable if it weren’t for the anxiety building up inside of him, threatening to overwhelm him and throw him off balance. Hinata is looking back at him with that strange expression, and it’s really beginning to frustrate Tobio that he doesn’t know what it is.

“What?” Tobio asks after a moment, his skin beginning to itch. “Did I say something wrong? See, this is why I didn’t want to say anything—”

“No!” Hinata blurts out. “No, everything’s fine, I was just—I just—I wasn’t really expecting it!”

Tobio blushes, feeling incredibly embarrassed. “You’re the one who told me to be honest.”

Hinata’s cheeks bleed a little deeper. “I meant it! And that’s why—that’s what makes this all the more—” He mimics an explosion with his hands, letting them fall back to his sides. “It’s all _gwahhh_ inside, you know?”

He looks away, feeling flustered. He’s never really been good at giving compliments or receiving them, and with Hinata looking at him like _that_ Tobio isn’t sure what to do. He hadn’t really wanted to say anything that would make him seem too soft, but his lips are always more loose when it comes to Hinata, and his heart has a bad habit of tripping on its feet whenever he’s around. But if it’s something that makes Hinata happy—if it really does make him feel _gwah_ , which Tobio has come to learn is a pretty good thing—then he’ll work towards doing it more often. He’ll try harder.

Tobio clears his throat, adjusting his scarf. “Why’d you ask anyway?” he asks, sneaking a glance over at his friend. Hinata’s got a pleased look on his face, the same indescribable expression tinged onto it—contentment with a little more something to it. (He thinks it might just look a little like hope, as familiar as it is, but he can’t really figure out _why_.) “You know you don’t really have to care about what other people think, right?”

“I know,” Hinata says simply, looking back up at Tobio with a smile. “But it’s you. You’re important to me, and I care about what you think.”

Tobio blinks, and heat immediately rushes to his cheeks. He feels like he’s on fire all over again, warm inside despite the freezing cold on his skin. Incapable of forming a proper reply, he just grunts and looks away, lest Hinata finally pick up that the pink in his cheeks isn’t because of the cold at all.

Hinata just laughs, taking his hands out of his pocket to clasp them together behind his back, putting one foot in front of the other. But he doesn’t stop looking at Tobio—not even for a single moment, his eyes watching Tobio with a light intensity, mixed together with both amusement and fondness. He looks _happy_ , and Tobio’s only wish is that he could make Hinata look like that all the time.

There’s that ache in his chest again, that familiar feeling of longing that consumes him whole, filling up his chest until all he can see beyond him is this. It hits him like a tidal wave, a lightning strike, a hurricane that sweeps him off his feet and surrounds his whole existence. But for all it’s intensity, there’s something rather soft about it too—like it can’t help but be gentle all the same, carrying him across the sea to make sure he gets to shore. This little bit is pressed right against his heart, a warm, kind feeling close to a religion and a prayer that he doesn’t have.

But then Hinata’s grins wider, a spark in his eyes, and Tobio almost says it.

The feeling leaps up to his throat, right to his mouth, and it threatens to spill right out of his lips, pushing past any restraint and barrier he’d put up. Hinata is looking at him with a smile, and Tobio wants to say it. He wants to say it _so badly_ , and tell him the truth, tell Hinata what he _really_ thinks of him without holding back a single thing. He wants to tell Hinata how the summer has never been his favorite until a beautiful boy came and taught him how to trace it on his skin. He wants to tell Hinata about kings with fallen crowns and hands to hold and things to believe in. He wants to tell Hinata that magic is _fun_ again, but only because someone had found him again after being lost for so long. He wants to tell Hinata that he likes him, that maybe it might be something close to love, and that even though he is everything Tobio is not, but he can’t help but want Hinata more than anything he’s ever wanted in his life.

(And maybe this is fleeting. Maybe this is just a crush, maybe he’s over exaggerating, and maybe he’s always fallen too fast. Maybe the people are right, and it is foolish to call something new and strange love, but Tobio feels a certainty inside of him that he’s never quite felt before, and it somehow overrules everything else. Something inside him that knows there will never be anyone else. Because for all its newness lies familiarity, buried deep and hidden in the sunshine of Hinata’s smile. Because despite all the things Tobio’s learned until now, it is Hinata Shouyou’s heart that he wants to know the most.)

He remembers thinking once that he wasn’t sure if he wanted Hinata to stay. Now it’s all he can wish to ask for.

Tobio remembers the last time he’d been reckless, and he hasn’t forgotten where it had gotten him. But this time feels different. This time is different because it’s Hinata and his wild magic, and he’s the one that taught Tobio that not everything has to be set in stone. That things are changing all the time, but there are a million other things that stay too. That the only way to reach something interesting and new is to take the jump, and it’s worth a shot to try everything to see if you’re any good at it.

And Tobio wants to be good at this. He wants to be good at saying it, at being honest. He wants to be good at love.

And if Miwa’s right, if the things Suga has been saying are true all along, if the way Hinata looks at him sometimes means _anything at all_ , then there’s bound to be something there. If the words Hinata had said that night with the truth potion are real, if the way he looks at Tobio like he’s _waiting for something_ holds any meaning, then Tobio might have a chance. A slim one, but a chance nonetheless. He doesn’t know if the odds are in his favor, and the fate just might be against him, but he’s worked with less before. You don’t get this far with magic—to being the youngest witch ever accepted to the Coven—by being afraid. Tobio always thought Hinata was magic itself to begin with.

His throat feels like closing up, but there’s a strong, persistent tugging at his chest, pulling at his heartstrings. It’s unrelenting and terrifying and exciting, and Tobio has never felt anything so great inside him all at once before. He can feel his magic beginning to spill out of him, the sunburst in his chest just waiting to explode, and if he holds it inside of him any longer it might just set off. Maybe this would be easier to say, he thinks, if he didn’t feel it so strongly.

Because there’s really only one choice standing in front of him, and all it takes is one more breath to reach it. He hopes that there will still be beautiful things on the other side, that he’ll find what he’s been looking for. There’s only one thing to do now.

It’s a funny moment, isn’t it? To know it’s time. Suddenly, it’s like everything mellows down, muted like a soft melody, but the feeling is still there. A sense of calm, perhaps, as though he had always known it would come down to this. It makes his heart leap up to his throat, his chest constricting a hundred different ways, but the words are there—cut right from the center of his heart and held up to be golden in the light. The world is quiet, like it’s making room for them, and a part of him knows that he will never get another moment like this again.

And if there’s anything Tobio’s been taught, it’s to take the opportunity right in his hands before it even gets the chance to leave him. He takes a deep breath, loosens his shoulders, and lets it unfold before him.

“Earlier,” Tobio starts to say, and his hands are shaking and his heart is thundering, and he can only hope that he’s right about all of this. “Earlier, when we were talking about—about confessing and saying what you feel, you said that you weren’t sure anymore. You said that you don’t think the timing matters that much anymore, that you used to, but something’s changed.” He takes a deep breath, and forces himself to look at Hinata, meeting the last worth of sunset in his eyes. “What did you mean when you said that? What made it change?”

He expects Hinata to look confused at the sudden change in topic, or to ask Tobio why he’s bringing this up again—but to his surprise, Hinata doesn’t do any of that at all. Instead, he smiles, soft and slow and strange, and it makes Tobio wonder what it could possibly mean.

Hinata takes a step forward, his breath coming out like a wisp of smoke in the winter night air. “Oh, that’s simple,” he says with a slight shrug of his shoulders. He makes it sound like all the secrets of the universe can be found right inside his heart, with all the casualness and ease a person could possibly have when talking about things like these. “I tried doing it myself. It’s a lot harder than I thought it would be.”

Tobio feels his heart drop to his stomach at the thought of Hinata wanting to confess to someone else. It makes his heart break a little, a small crack right down the middle, but he takes another deep breath, and holds himself back up. Don’t lose your resolve just yet, Tobio tells himself, the small, foolish part of him still holding onto hope. You won’t know anything unless you try.

“Then you don’t think it matters anymore?” he brings himself to ask, holding his breath.

“Not really, no,” Hinata answers. He stops walking to look up at Tobio curiously, and there’s that expression again, hidden right behind the faintest traces of a smile. “I mean, obviously it’s best to do that sort of thing in private, and I know some people like to plan it—but it’s a little tricky, isn’t it? What matters is that you’re honest with the person you like. That all the things you say and do show exactly what you mean.”

Tobio exhales shakily. This time, he meets Hinata’s eyes properly, looking right at him head-on. Even when the nerves and the fear consume him, he looks straight on, and just the feeling of Hinata with him is enough to keep him warm for the tiniest moment. “Then what is it that you do,” he says slowly, trying to keep the syllables clean and clear. “What do you do when you find someone you like?”

Hinata blinks, and this time the surprise rewrites itself on his features. His cheeks grow pink, and he looks at Tobio like he’s trying to figure something out. There’s a couple of moments of silence before he seems to come to a decision, taking a breath of his own, and glancing back at Tobio with a resolve that hadn’t been there before. He smiles, soft and fond and _lonely,_ and takes a step forward closer to Tobio. “Well,” he says, his eyes twinkling. “I send them enchanted screaming plants, I take them out for ice cream, and I accidentally take a truth potion and nearly confess.”

Enchanted screaming plants? Truth potion…? But isn’t that—hadn’t they done those things together—

Oh, Tobio thinks.

_Oh._

He can’t believe what he’s hearing. It can’t be possible, can it? He hadn’t dared to hope too hard, but Hinata is still smiling, and there’s really only one way it could mean. And if Hinata’s still here, if he’s still waiting, then it must be the truth.

Tobio tries hard to keep calm. “And what if you find someone you love?”

Hinata hums. “Well, that’s the thing, though. I’ve never been in love before,” he says, his eyes never leaving Tobio’s. “But there’s someone I’d like to try it with, if they’re okay with it.”

Tobio doesn’t know what to say.

“But what about you?” Hinata asks, and for the briefest second, Tobio thinks he sees a flash of uncertainty. A mix of fear and nerves, like he’s just as scared as Tobio is. “What do you do when you find someone you love?”

Without even having to think too hard, Tobio knows his answer. He’s still having a hard time wrapping his head around all of this, that it’s actually _happening,_ and even though it hadn’t gone the way he’d expected it to, it’s here now, and he’s nearly stunned into disbelief. He can’t believe it. And if he’s understanding Hinata right, if those words had meant what he thought they did, then—

Then it means _Hinata likes him back._

Tobio shakes with a tremendous, calamitous love. He looks at Hinata, and the feeling swells inside of him, the waves crashing at the shoreline of his ribcage. Taking a deep breath, it’s his turn to take a step forward, closer to Hinata. “Then I take their hand,” he says, finally allowing himself to take Hinata’s hand in his, feeling the warmth immediately reach out to him. “And I tell them that I want to try too.”

Hinata’s eyes widen, and it’s not long before he’s breaking out into a grin. “Really?” he says, and Tobio nods. He smiles even wider, breathing out a laugh of relief, and both his hands clasp around Tobio’s, squeezing them tightly. “You mean it? Just in case, I was talking about you, okay, because I really, _really_ like you, and if I understood that right, then—”

“I like you too,” Tobio says, as simple and meaningful and genuine as he can make it. “I—I like you a lot.”

“Oh,” Hinata says, sounding a little breathless, as though the admission had knocked the air right out of his lungs. At least that’s what Tobio feels now, the sunburst dancing circles inside of him, like a fireworks show in his chest. “That’s—that’s good. That’s great.” A nervous laugh bubbles out of his lips. “ That’s—that’s actually the best thing I’ve ever heard.”

Tobio smiles, feeling unsteady and grounded all at once. He feels like exploding.

“I wanted to tell you,” Hinata says, and his thumb traces circles on the back of Tobio’s hand. “I wanted to tell you more than anything, but I could never figure out how. So I just kept saying things, and hoping that you’d get the hint. And after—after what happened with the truth potion, and I basically told you _I liked you_ , I figured that you didn’t get it, or that you did, but you weren’t interested and was just playing along for my sake. I didn’t—I didn’t want to ask you for something when you’ve already given so much of yourself up.”

“You can take it,” Tobio says almost immediately. He knows it’s a pretty big thing to say, but he can’t really find it in him to be embarrassed anymore, not when he knows what Hinata feels. “I’ll give it all to you.”

Hinata flushes bright red. “Kageyama!” he exclaims, flustered. “Stupid, you can’t just say stuff like that! It’s not fair!”

“I wouldn’t say it if I didn’t mean it,” Tobio tells him, and that only seems to make the blush on Hinata’s face deepen, the red blooming like a snapdragon in the spring. “And how is it not fair? You say stuff like that all the time!”

“But that’s—that’s different!”

“How is it different?”

“Because I’m the one saying it,” Hinata says back. “It’s different if it’s you. It’s always been different.”

Tobio doesn’t really know what to do with that. “Different?”

“Mhm,” Hinata says, and the smile he gives Tobio might even be _shy_ , the embarrassment still inked on his skin. “With you, it’s like—I feel like I could dance in a storm with you and not care about anything else at all, you know?”

Tobio feels the prickle of lightning right on his skin. “Yeah,” he says with a nod. This, he understands well. “Yeah, I know. It’s like that for me with you.”

Hinata grins again, and this time Tobio doesn’t shy away from it. He welcomes it, and feels a thrill inside of him now that he gets to call it his. It’s exhilarating and exciting, and he doesn’t know what to do with all this happiness. He doesn’t think he’s felt this much of it in a long time; it’s overwhelming, but he wouldn’t let a single bit of it go. He doesn’t want to mess a single part of this up.

“I feel like I should warn you,” Tobio says to Hinata, and the confession is quiet right on his tongue, almost blown away by the wind. But he can tell that Hinata hears it; somehow, his words always manage to make it to him, even when he’d never spoken them out loud before. “I’ve never done any of this before. I don’t know anything about it.”

Just as always, Hinata takes in stride. He doesn’t look the slightest bit worried at all—he just looks up at Tobio and smiles with the softest expression he’s ever seen, his eyes glowing golden even in the nightlight. “You don’t have to,” he says, gentle and slow. “I just want you to know _me_.”

And Tobio does. He does, and he will keep learning the map of Hinata Shouyou’s heart for as long as he is allowed to, for the rest of his life if he can help it. Something tells him that he’ll never stop finding interesting things about this beautiful boy, about this love he feels, about the magic he carries within his chest.

Hinata squeezes Tobio’s hands, and he hands Tobio another smile, but this time it’s more teasing, mischievous right at the corners. “So you like me, huh?” Hinata says with a grin. “You _like_ me.”

“Shut up,” Tobio says back, feeling his face heat up, and the sunburst is back in his chest, threatening to finally explode. He just rolls his eyes and looks away, finding that a little of the earlier vulnerability is slowly being replaced by a strange sort of comfort. It’s weird, he thinks, having his feelings out in the open like this, when he’s kept them inside for so long. He’d made sure to keep them in a place Hinata could never find, but here they are now, laid open and bare for Hinata to see. And the funny thing is that Tobio doesn’t mind at all, not if it’s Hinata. Tobio knows he’d take care of it.

“It’s okay,” Hinata says, breathing out a laugh. “Because you’re cute, and I like you too.”

Tobio feels his face warm up again, but before he even has the time to recover, he feels Hinata move against him, coming up to stand on his toes. There’s the light press of Hinata’s lips against his own, and Tobio feels the sunburst inside of him finally give way, and the lightning on his fingers slips out of his hold.

There’s a loud clap of thunder, and then it begins to rain.

“Kageyama!” Hinata exclaims, incredulous, but there’s an amused smile on his lips, the laughter easing its way out of him. “Seriously?”

Tobio blushes. “It’s your fault! I couldn’t help it!”

Hinata just laughs again, and he squeezes Tobio’s hand three times before he pulls him along, tugging right him onto the street. It should be even more freezing like this, Tobio thinks, and it’s going to be even worse when all their clothes are soaked—but he can’t bring himself to care. He could walk through a hundred thunderstorms and not mind, as long as Hinata was by his side. And now, with Hinata’s hand in his, their laughter echoing through the streets, it’s fearless and reckless and he’s not sure how anything could be better than this. Even with the rain on his skin, Tobio thinks he’s never felt warmer in his life.

Really, he thinks, he feels _invincible_.

* * *

The next day, Tobio heads over to a flower shop. _Bloom,_ the sign says right on the top, with vines curling around the light blue walls, organized and neat and colorful with flowers and leaves spilling all over the pots. The magic is strong here too, steady like a river and a rock, and he feels it on his skin like a kind reassurance. It helps soothe his nerves a bit, calms his lightning-quick heart, and he tries not to think too hard about what he’s here for and what he’s about to do.

A man with spiky hair is standing at the counter, and he seems a little surprised that Tobio’s picking something so simple out of all the much flashier, magical flowers, but he holds back whatever questions he might have. He asks a sleepy-eyed man to wrap them up together in a bouquet, and another guy with pink hair takes Tobio’s money, looking the slightest bit interested. Tobio manages to give his thanks and leave just as the three men start bickering behind him as he exits, and with the bouquet in his hands, he’s a lot more nervous than he’d like.

But there are always scarier things, and this is something familiar rather than unknown, and Tobio knows what lies on the other side of the door is nothing to be afraid of. It’s just another step forward, like everything else has been. So here he stands now, one hand held up to knock, and the other trying not to shake as he holds the flowers, holding out to every bit of courage that he has.

Hinata opens the door, all bright-eyed and brilliant, and Tobio holds out the bouquet he’d brought. They’re sunflowers, because Tobio had known that Hinata would like sunflowers, and he knows it’s not much, but he wanted to get them anyway. And it turns out to be worth it, because the _look_ on Hinata’s face when he sees them—his smile so wide it could challenge the sun, cotton candy pink in his cheeks, and freckles dotting his skin like constellations—it melts all Tobio’s nerves away until all he can feel inside of him is warmth. And he’s soft, he knows, but he doesn’t mind at all, not if Hinata is the reason. Because even if this is all new, even if it’s completely terrifying, even if Hinata had told him last night under a rain-stained roof that they could take it slow, Tobio has never wanted anything more in his whole life. He wants to try this again and again and again, if it means that he gets to be with Hinata like this. He wants Hinata.

(And Tobio had always believed you needed a reason to want something. But after all of this, after all that’s happened and all that he dreams of, he finds that he still wants Hinata without one. Even without the right words for it, with the syllables stuck in his throat, the sounds of an imperfect melody. But that’s okay, because words are always different when they live inside of you, and this feeling—this thing he holds in his hands and thinks it’s close to something he could call love—there are no words that would ever be able to describe it. Because with Hinata, Tobio finds a home in the middle of a storm, a moment of shelter, a place to rest. A place to stay.)

Hinata smiles at Tobio, and takes his hand. They’ve got tickets for a new greenhouse exhibit that just opened, followed by a trip to Bokuto’s ice cream shop. He’s still pretty nervous, but then Hinata bumps against his side and laughs, starting to ramble on about something his sister did, and it’s so familiar that Tobio feels himself relax. Hinata squeezes his hand, and the sun shines down bright on their skin, and he wonders if this is a kind of magic by itself.

Maybe it’s just called being happy.

* * *

If there is anything Kageyama Tobio knows for certain, it is the way he feels for Hinata Shouyou.

It’s not that new anymore, but it’s familiar, something he carries inside of him every day, held close to his heart, a treasure to keep. It’s never quite stopped surprising him, to be honest, just how grand and bold it can get, stretching on for miles inside of him, a hurricane for a heartbeat, and sometimes it overwhelms him, and he feels it until it’s all he knows. But there are also the moments of quiet afternoons, like when Tobio will hand him a cup of coffee and Hinata will smile at him, and they’ll sit together on the couch to watch a movie. It comes like a gentle rain, kind to the lightning strikes on blue veins, softening the sky he keeps inside of him. Even when they’re bickering, having dumb tickle fights, or when they’re arguing about silly things, Tobio still feels it. It’s almost like a part of him, and it’s hard to imagine the time he hadn’t known it. But how could any part of him now be distant from love? If there’s anything that Tobio knows for sure, in all the best ways to care, at sunrise and even in the dark, heard in the silence and felt on the way home, it is his feelings for Hinata Shouyou. He knows it, and there’s not a single part inside of him that could ever dare to doubt it.

Perhaps that’s the thing about love—to chase after it your whole life only to realize that love only arrives when you’re ready for it, and that it might be all you ever need. To not know it but to _recognize_ it, no matter where you are, because this feeling has lived inside of you a million times over before. It comes by differently, takes on something each and every time, but you would know it even by the barest brush of hands, by the slight curve of a smile. By the sunset eyes of a boy who asks for the promise to stay.

Tobio used to think that it was magic that he knew well. That it was his one constant among all the blur, the one thing he could rely on even after the aftershocks had passed. He could count on it to never fail him, and he’d thought that he’d already learned all that there was to know about it, that he’d seen and felt everything there was to know. And though he doesn’t doubt that he does know magic, he’s come to realize that he was wrong. There’s always going to be more to it. There’s always more to learn and to try, and it never quite stops. There’s always something new about magic to find. Something new to believe in.

Funny, how it is, that magic had come in the form of Hinata Shouyou, and Tobio had learned of knowing and being known. And if meeting Hinata meant he’d have to embarrass himself a hundred times over and get bit by a stupid snapdragon, then Tobio would do it. He wouldn’t give it up for anything else.

He’d promised to stay after all, hadn’t he?

“You’re doing it again,” Hinata says, poking Tobio on the cheek with his finger. He does it twice more just to be annoying, a mischievous look on his face. He’s carrying a bunch of scrolls in his arms, seven of them pressed together, trying to balance them all together as he walks.

“What do you mean?” Tobio asks, dodging the next poke Hinata sends his way. He comes back around again to take some of the scrolls from Hinata, and walks with him to settle them down on the counter for Hinata to sort through. He places them next to the specialized book about plants that Tobio had bought Hinata a couple weeks back, and he’s been reading through it too himself, trying to keep them all in mind. He’s starting to see why Hinata has such an interest in them, and it’s honestly just really cute to watch Hinata to get excited even over the smallest things. With an easy snap of his fingers, he summons a rain cloud to water all the pots nearby, and the leaves rustle in thanks, swaying despite the lack of breeze.

Hinata dusts his hands off by clapping them together, placing them on his hips. He’s got a curious look in his eyes, his head tilted slightly. “Have I ever told you that when you’re thinking really hard about something, your eyebrows and mouth go all like this,” he says, bringing up a hand to create a crease on his forehead, squishing his eyebrows together and frowning hard. “It’s really funny.”

Tobio just reaches over and flicks Hinata on the forehead. His boyfriend yelps a little, but then grins anyway, sticking his tongue out.

“But seriously,” Hinata says, flattening out one of the scrolls on the table. The paper is a little crumpled on the edges, clearly for a recipe for an old spell, and Tobio wonders where Hinata even gets these. Hinata had told him about one of his annual expedition trips before, and he’d invited Tobio to come along with him this year. It was cute how flustered and shy Hinata had gotten when he proposed it, and to be honest there wasn’t any other answer for Tobio except yes. “You looked pretty concentrated. What were you thinking about?”

Tobio finds that honesty comes easy and simple. “You and me.”

Hinata pauses in unfolding the scroll, and looks up at Tobio with a raised eyebrow and a hint of amusement. “Oh, yeah? What about us?”

He drums his fingers against the table, humming lightly. “That it’s a little like magic.” Tobio knows that it’s a pretty vague answer, but Hinata seems to understand what he means anyway, based off on the smile that spreads across his face, nearly even more blinding than the daylight. And for a moment, it feels like the first time they met all over again, with Hinata standing on the other side, his eyes bright and shining, and Tobio here on the other end, falling even more in love with each second that passes. Still those same summer eyes that make Tobio think he’s just like the sun. And in truth, Tobio doesn’t believe that’ll ever change.

With one swift movement, Hinata moves over to the other side of the counter so that he’s standing in front to Tobio properly, taking both of his hands to hold gently, stepping closer “That’s a really nice way to put it,” Hinata says with a grin, and their closeness does nothing to hide the way his cheeks are lit up with hints of pink, pleased and fond. “So I take that means you’re happy?”

Tobio pretends to mull it over, making an unsure sound. “Hmm, I’ll have to think about that some more.”

“ _Tobio_ ,” Hinata says, giving him a pointed look, but there’s a smile that never leaves his lips.

Tobio grins. “Yeah, I’m happy, dumbass,” he tells Hinata, the honesty spilling out of his chest, and there’s those dragons in his stomach again, setting his heart ablaze and giving him a wildfire for a ribcage.

“Good,” Hinata says, and he reaches out to lean his forehead against Tobio’s. “Because I’m really happy too.”

Tobio feels Hinata press his lips against his, and the kiss is soft and sweet and gentle, like a light drizzle drumbeat against his chest, the sort of sunny morning after a storm filled with warmth and light. They’ve probably done this a hundred times over now, but maybe it’ll always be like this for them, where some things with Hinata will always still feel like the first time, always something special about them. If that’s the case, Tobio doesn’t think he’ll ever get enough of it.

When Hinata pulls away, he’s got a grin right on his lips, and Tobio can tell that he’s ready to tease. “I mean, you can get kinda annoying sometimes, like when you cheated in our race the other day—”

“I did _not_ cheat—”

“—or when you met Natsu and you were super nice to her, even though you weren’t nice to _me_ when we first met—”

“ _You’re_ the one who told me to be nice—”

“—and instead all I got in return was cream puffs to the face,” Hinata says with a dramatic sigh, and Tobio just rolls his eyes at his boyfriend, exasperated but fond. “And right after I told you I thought you were cute!”

Tobio shakes his head, but a smile rises to his lips anway, and he snorts. “You’re insufferable.”

Hinata only shrugs casually, smiling. “Yeah, but I think you’re kinda into it.”

“A poor choice, really,” he says back, Hinata laughs, squeezing Tobio’s hand one more time. And when it’s like this, there’s a feeling that swells into his chest, one that he can never put properly into words. It’s soft and mellow and beautiful, and it fills him inside out. It’s a little like burning, sharpened golden and held up to the light, the sort of thing that people only find woven into their dreams. And it must be a wondrous thing, Tobio thinks, that it is here now, carved into his reality so deeply he doesn’t ever dare think of removing it. That instead of the blurriness of dreams, the fading essence and the loose grip, it makes itself known to him now in the best way possible. It’s real and here and solid, and it holds the most truth that he could ever have thought of having. It is honest, and perhaps the luckiest thing that’s ever happened to Tobio.

Except—it’s not exactly luck, is it? Maybe there’s a bit of it there, but it doesn’t take up everything. You do not learn a heart on accident the same way you can fall in love slowly, where you walk into love with your eyes wide open. Instead of the rush, there lies a choice in the knowing, and the vulnerability that comes with letting yourself be known in return. To put in effort is what takes you across rivers and valleys and mountains, beyond cityscapes and countrysides. There’s something sturdier, built after days and days piling on top of one another to form something phenomenal, something born out of trying again and again just to get it right. Maybe there is enough room for luck, but what has always held true is the effort and the honesty. And those by themselves are more than anything magic would be able to give him.

Maybe it is luck that Hinata had chosen to stick around despite what he had already heard of Tobio, but to love him the same even after all he’s learned—isn’t that what matters? Doesn’t it count that no matter what happens, Tobio knows Hinata’s heart the way the other knows his? That they are still learning, still trying, and that they both want to see this through? Neither of them have ever been the type to give up, and where the heart lies is a stronger resolve, and Tobio doesn’t see himself letting go any time soon.

And with the way Hinata is looking at him, holding him like he’s touching the sky itself, Tobio knows that Hinata feels the same way. There’s no rush, no need to worry. They know where they stand, and Tobio has never been more certain of anybody else his whole life.

Because when Tobio looks over at Hinata, he sees magic. And based on that alone, if there truly is anything he knows at all, it is the heart of Hinata Shouyou.

Hinata presses another quick kiss to Tobio’s lips before loosening his grip on his hands, returning back to the other side of the counter to continue looking over at the scrolls. “Come on, help me out, would you? We need to finish early if we’re meeting up with Miwa-san for dinner later,” Hinata tells him, placing a hand on his hip. “I just need you to test out some of the spells I read out.”

Tobio nods, stepping over to inspect some of the scrolls. It’s supposed to be another one of his day-offs, but Hinata had work to do, so Tobio had decided to just come along. Hinata’s also been teaching him a lot of different spells lately, and it’s a little hard since they’re out of his specialty, but it’s okay. Hinata had been right after all—it’s fun and it’s exciting and he’s always liked finding new ways to improve. He’d almost forgotten what it felt like, the thrill of learning a new spell that brought a bit of a challenge, and he can’t say that he minds the competition that spurs inside of him to prove it to Hinata. It’s an easy thing to love.

He picks up one of the scrolls, careful not to knock any of the bottles over. Next to Natsu’s orb of light is the latest addition to Hinata’s collection of sentimental oddities: the gift Tobio had given him for his birthday this year. It’s a little like that time he’d given him lightning in a bottle, except this time it’s a piece of sky collected in a small jar. It’s meant to reflect the weather outside, but can easily be enchanted to shift into anything else. Right now the bottle is filled to the brim with blue, puffs of small white clouds floating within, hints of orange and pink starting to bleed through as the sun begins its way back home. It had taken Tobio weeks to figure out the right spells to weave it all together, and after several failed attempts, he’d been pretty proud of it when he’d finished. He’d been even happier when he learned that Hinata had absolutely _loved_ it.

Hinata catches him looking over at it, and nudges Tobio’s shoulder with a knowing smile. “I still think it’s beautiful, you know.”

“Yeah?”

“Of course,” Hinata says, a soft touch to his expression. “You gave it to me.”

Tobio flushes, but doesn’t say anything more. He stares at the little jar, at the piece of sky he’d gifted to Hinata, and remembers what he wanted to say through it—that he would go to wherever Hinata is, and that the same sky would hold them both no matter the distance. That perhaps they were always meant to find each other, and it had only been a matter of time before they were both ready for it. And now that they’re here, Tobio’s glad he waited for it.

Hinata continues on with his work a little after that, and Tobio joins him, helping him with what he needs. A little later, they find themselves as they always do: with the golden light on their skin as they trade stories and bicker, tease and joke and laugh, their heartbeats falling in sync. And Tobio wouldn’t mind if they stayed this way forever, the two of them with their young hearts and honest love, sugar smiles and easy words. It’s simple, but he finds that it’s everything he could ever ask for. As long as Hinata is here, he never has to be alone again. He’s found something to believe in, and this time he’s sure of it—this time, he knows to call it love.

He’s not sure when it starts drizzling, but the rain is coming down as they’re finishing up, blurring the world outside of the windows. Hinata doesn’t seem the slightest bit subdued by it at all, humming a song under his breath as he closes up, an umbrella tucked under his arm. Tobio summons a raincloud for them anyway, as Hinata rambles on about this new movie he’s excited to watch. The skies are gray and bleary, and the rain is a drumbeat against the pavement, but Tobio doesn’t feel worried about it at all. Natural or not, he’s learned something to be true, something Hinata had told him once, and with love by his side he knows they’re nothing to be worried about. There’s nothing he can’t handle, and it won’t be long until the storm passes. And after it does, he knows what he’ll find in the afterglow—that what’s important will still be golden, that words will still be promises, that everything he needs will still be right here. That love will stay, that it will be here right next to him, that it will still be as magical as the first day. There’s one thing he’ll always remember.

It can’t rain forever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i just want to say thank you so much to everyone who helped and supported me!!! this fic really came a long way, so it really means a lot!! and to all those who decided that this fic was worth reading all the way to the end, i could never thank you enough!! all the comments have been so nice and sweet ahhh thank you so so much!!!
> 
> you can find me on [tumblr!](https://superish.tumblr.com) happy new year!!! <3


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